


Know thyself

by See1like



Category: X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Dark thems, Dimension Travel, M/M, Parallel Universes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-03-24
Updated: 2014-12-06
Packaged: 2017-11-02 11:03:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 19
Words: 60,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/368279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/See1like/pseuds/See1like
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the outside, Charles is just a blue blooded, private school student, but he's also a powerful telepath, training for the day he'll face his greatest enemy- a monster named Magneto.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. For the love of god

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone. This is my first story published at this site. I hope you'll enjoy it. Reviews are warmly welcomed.

Charles Francis Xavier was born to a blue blooded family, rich beyond measures. He was also born a twin to his beautiful sister, Raven, who was his best friend and which he absolutely adored.

Charles Francis Xavier was born a telepath, a mutation; he kept hidden that fact from everyone, including his parents, but not from Raven, never from Raven.

They were three month short of seventeen, proud members of st. James academy; a well established private secondary and high school for boys and girls at the outskirts of London.

Charles Francis Xavier had shaggy brown hair, small framed body, and his built was less than impressive. The only thing noticeable about him was his striking azure eyes, which he tried not to impose on anybody for too long a time. Currently they were drifted to gaze at the window and admire the view outside of his classroom.

The scenery was breathtaking, a perfect autumn postcard picture. The sky was heavy with clouds, a gray thick blanket, which was reflected on the lake and brought out the vibrant colors of the greens of the meadows and the reds of the autumn leaves on the trees.

"Charles Francis Xavier!" the teacher shouted out loud.

The boy jerked up, realizing he has been named a few times already; he retrieved his wondering gaze back to the classroom.

"I'm sorry, sir…"

The rest of the boys in the class, glared at him with smirks and chuckles.

"For god's sake, Charles, your turn is up, unless you're not ready…."

"But I am ready, sir." Charles said, standing up, straightening his tie and jacket, both maroon colored and stiff.

This was the English class, and this day they practiced debates, Oxford's style. The topic was chosen by lottery, as well as the opponent who already awaited him by the teacher, in front of the class.

Lord Patrick John Hodgson, was a 6 feet tall blonde, hazel eyed boy, strongly built and the head of the rowing team, very successful with girls to the point that even his own twin sister considered him as dashing.

"The topic chosen for this pair was…" the teacher cleared his throat and announced "The Theory of evolution: does is contradicts the existent of god."

Charles sighed as he picked his notes and moved to the front of the class, all the while, Patrick's smug gaze following him, sure of his victory.

"Those in favor raise your hands and say Aye."

"Aye" the majority of the class, modern agnostic well-bred boys raised their hands.

Patrick reveled on this, for it was his stand to convey, Charles was the unlucky one to defend god.

"Those opposing, raise your hands and say Aye."

Few hesitating hands rose up, and a mumble of shivering "Aye's" followed, it was considered foolish at best, believing in god nowadays.

The teacher counted the number of the votes and eyes Charles "No undecided votes. Keep it short and clean." His gaze averted to the blond "Patrick, you may start."

"Thank you, sir." Patrick smiled his charming smile that could swipe girls off their feet and gave boys a fuzzy good feeling inside as well. "Being a modern educated man, leaves no doubt in mind that god is a fiction, created by man in his time of need, used to rule and enslave humanity for generations and cover up atrocities made in his name. The theory of evolution helps us get rid of this burden by proving that god has no part in creating life or the formation of the human race. By logical steps and well rounded explanations, Mr. Charles Darwin showed us how life can sprout from still molecules with no help needed. Humans are the crown of the evolution or the miserable slaves of god, what would you choose as your fate?"

A round of applause flooded the classroom, even the teacher seemed impressed.

"Well articulated, Patrick, nicely done. Now we will hear Charles's stand and give you a round of questions. Charles?"

The boy gulped and messed up his papers.

"Charles..." The teacher's second plea sounded more like a scold.

"Why yeah…." Charles swallowed again and took a deep breath. "Let me neglect the summary I wrote before and address the issue far more directly. I was… surprised to hear Patrick's approach, because it is completely irrelevant."

Patrick gazed at him, raising an eyebrow.

"I mean… What I'd like to say is, whether we choose to believe in god or discard him because we found a brilliant way to explain ourselves the way life was created has nothing to do with the existence or nonexistence of god. It is as if we try to figure out if the moon is made out of rocks or of cheddar cheese, but it won't give us any indication as for why it is there in the first place, for us all to see. Do you follow me?"

Charles glanced at Patrick who seemed to have lost interest in the debate, but then it hit him, this vision. They were in the showers alone together, Charles was bent over the walls, hands on the tiles; legs spread wide apart as Patrick hammered his cock into him.

Charles gasped, those damn projections, he cleared his mind and made a mental note to himself, never to go to the showers while Patrick was there. It also meant bad news for Raven and few other girls at the academy.

"Charles, drifting again?" The teacher sighed.

"No, sir... My point is that God's existing or not has nothing to do with the theory of evolution, in fact, the well known philosopher Mr. Immanuel Kant proved with a series of logical steps that this sort of question is beyond the human intellectual reach, I've rested my case, sir."

The classroom was silent, pondering.

"Well done" The teacher said "You need to polish your style though, and not let your mind wonder off while speaking, it gives a wrong impression. Questions, please?"

"Yes sir." Asked a boy, one of Patrick's mates. "This is for Charles…Don't you agree that the people who believe in god are nothing but primitives and barbarians… Like all the Islamic terrorists and their ridicules Jihad and suicide bombing?"

"Thank you, McCaffrey. Mr. Xavier, your answer?"

Charles frowned as he always did while encountering prejudice and quick judgment.

"First let me assure you that not all of the Islamic believers are terrorists. The absolute majority of them are peaceful and respected people. Secondly, Fundamentalism has nothing to do with believing in god."

"I beg the difference!" Patrick finished his dirty fantasy and came back to reality, where Charles was winning the debate. "Give me one good example…"

"I'll give you a few." Charles interrupted him. "Stalin's region of terror, Franco's murders… the Jewish Holocaust."

"The Jewish what?" Patrick snarled "What does it have to do with this argument?"

"Everything." Charles answered "Hitler was an agnostic, a true follower of the evolution theory, believing in a superior race."

"Survival of the fittest." Patrick said harshly "What's wrong with that?"

Charles could hardly hide his appall.

"This goes beside the point." The teacher interfered. "Any more questions?"

The class was very still, most of the boys lost in thoughts, some lost in daydreams or surrendering to scribbles. The teacher was about to call on the final vote when a shy hand rose at the back of the class.

"Yes, Mr. McCoy?" This young American scholarship boy was one of Charles's favorite college, even though Hank never spoken a word to him, he was too shy and his American culture and humble origin stood in the way of their friendship.

"Charles…" Said Hank, hesitating "I'd like to know if you really believe in god or do believe in evolution and such… I mean if it is too private for you to answer I'll understand, but…"

"It is ok, Henry, I'll answer your question."

"Be short about it." The teacher glanced at his watch.

"I believe that god and evolution are the same."

"Huh?" came a gasping sound of questioning from the audience.

"I'll explain myself. Evolution marks the pathway to god, because evolution strengthens the best parts of humanity- compassion, intellectual, morality, sense of just. Therefore it leads us to become godlike creatures and that is all that matters to me."

"Thank you, Charles. A quick vote before the bell, in favor of Patrick's statement…"

"Aye." Half of the class raised their hands.

"And Charles's…"

"Aye…" the rest of the class, Hank included this time, raised their hands.

"The one who swayed more voters to his favor is Mr. Xavier, well done, Charles, you win."


	2. Vivid dreams

Telepathy, an ancient Greek word composed out of two elements "Tele" and "Pathe" meaning "Distance experience", Charles could not agree more with this term.

People tended to think that telepathy meant merely reading others' minds, and Charles was more than willing to embrace that, but sadly this was only the scratching of the surface and as his abilities grew stronger and stronger with each passing year, he realized how limited was the human imagination concerning telepaths.

At the library, while occupying themselves by solving differential equations, Charles casually turned to Richard, one of his roommates, and asked him what he would do if he found out he was a telepath.

The boy gave it some thought and later a mischievous smile appeared on his face. "I'd read the minds of all Billionaires and get their secret passwords to steal all their money!" he said, excited.

"Lovely." Charles replied wearily.

Richard frowned "Why? What would you do?"

Charles glared at him and shrugged, but deep inside he knew the answer. 'I would prepare myself to the best of my ability for the day I'd have met my archenemy and prevent him from destroying our world.'

This was not some wild imagination of a growing adolescent, this was so very realistic and the worst secret he had to keep.

Few girls came into the library, giggling and whispering. Richard gave them an appreciating gaze, focusing on their maroon colored short skirts, which put their lovely legs on display.

Charles glanced at them too, but while Richard's thoughts led blood right to his cock, Charles wondered if those shirt skirts were cut contrary to st. James regulations.

The girls moved on to the computers section, which was good news for Richard's aching cock, and Charles's awareness of his friend's problem.

"You know that Patrick's party is on this Friday" Richard turned to Charles "The hottest girls from the lower and upper sixth are going to be there! It would be a blast!" the boy could not hide his excitement, nor his explicit lust for one girl named Rebecca and all the sorts of dirty things he wanted to do to her.

Charles pushed those blunt projections away with a blush, so many hormones floating around in the air of st. James; Charles wondered if he could still consider himself a virgin while unwillingly participating in so many encounters both fantasies and real.

"I'll pass." Charles said, gathering his books and packing them into his backpack. This was getting too much, too many minds, too many thoughts, too many desires.

"Why do you always pass, Xavier?" Richard frowned. "Don't you think it is time for you to get laid?"

Now Patrick and his mates from the rowing team burst into the library, still in their uniforms, discussing next week's competition until the librarian shushed them.

Patrick threw a leer down Charles's way, a more of a reason to go.

"I'm going for a stroll, be back later, try not to set the place on fire while smoking, ok?"

"I do not smoke!" Richard protested, wondering if Charles found his secret stash.

"Later!"

Charles could not wait to be left alone, as he grew up it was harder and harder to cope. He was still shaken about what happened roughly a week ago in English class. This was the first time ever someone had a fantasy about him and a man none the less. Now why would anybody fantasy about him? This was beyond ridiculous.

Charles knew for almost three years now, that he was attracted to men, not the most pleasant thing to know about yourself, and to make things worse, he knew he was more prone to be the submissive one. Not that he ever wanted Patrick's paws on him, but maybe someone else…someone different. Charles had no idea if he'd ever meet a man he'll be comfortable enough with to let him penetrate his body or soul.

"Hey, watch it, Fancy-Francis!" A Girl shouted, as he nearly bumped into her and spilled her beer.

He came back to reality, finding himself in the st. James lakeside garden, near the greenhouse, where a pack of girls hid from their supervisors, and used this chance to smoke weed and drink booze.

"Sorry, love." Charles put on his most charming smile that passed through her defenses like a knife through butter. "No harm done."

She hesitantly smiled at him. "Don't snitch on us."

"Would never!" Charles answered as if this mere thought insulted him.

"Do you want some?" she offered him her bottle.

"No thanks, beer is not my cup of tea."

"Fine."

"Fine, have a great time, girls." He smiled again and moved on.

/Dweep/

/Nerd/

/Bugger off/

Those lovely thoughts accompanied him as he marched on, praying he will not bump on other gatherings or something even nastier.

To think that those children's parents paid every month a small fortune to earn them the best possible education and yet all that there was on their little minds was sex, booze and drugs.

Whatever! Charles calmed his mind, shutting himself away from everything and everyone, and little by little he found peace in the forest that surrounded him. The birds' chirps, the fresh cold air, the way his feet sunk slightly into the forest's hyssop covered ground. When he heard the meditative sounds of the waves of the lake coming back and forth, his heart rejoiced.

He settled in his favorite place, under a willow tree and opened his notebooks to study chemistry. The topic was Bohr's Model of the Hydrogen Atom, which was a satisfactory food for Charles's hungry mind. When this year ends, he would finish his lower sixth year as well as his first degree in Biology.

Time slowly passed by, and it was getting darker and darker to read, Charles packed back his books and headed not to the dorms, or even the common halls, but to the keeper's hut at the edge of the forest.

Mr. Morris was kind enough to give him the spare key two years ago, and allowed him to stash his stuff there, not even bothering to ask what they were.

The sixteen year-old entered the hut, which was rather vast and empty, only some gardening tools were stacked up in a corner, as well as a pair of muddy boots.

Charles placed his backpack carefully down at the entrance and switched the lights on. Then he headed to his cabin, kicking off his shoes on the way. There was a chair nearby, where Charles neatly placed his jacket on, then his tie and bottom down shirt, and lastly his pants. In the cabin were his training slacks and he put them on. He got rid of his socks and enjoyed feeling the wooden floor underneath his bare feet.

Now came the part he dreaded the most, he swallowed.

"I will not fear…" he whispered to himself "Fear is the mind killer. I will face my fear; I will let it pass through me…"

Only while chanting this mantra was he able to face the weapon hanging on the wall of the cabin. A wonderful sword, made out of a non metallic material that he did not recognizes, it was semi transparent and smooth, beautiful but sharp and deadly at the same time.

He feared it so badly, not because he didn't know how to use it, but because it represented the enemy he would one day soon encounter, a mutant so powerful, so destructive and cunning, he feared would be the death of him. But he had to get ready to face him, both mentally and physically or the world is doomed.

Charles knew that physical battles was not his strongest point, his most powerful weapon was his mind, but as his Sensei wisely said, he had to be ready for a scenario where he cannot use his telepathy in combat, hence comes this beautiful sword.

"I will not fear…" he mumbled again "Fear is the mind killer…"

Charles grabbed hold of the sword and started practicing a Kata, with fluid and graceful movements.

XxXxX-XxXxX

At the hour of the owls and wolfs, as thunders rumbled in the bellies of the clouds, Charles finally came back from the woods. The vast buildings of st. James loomed in the dark, like a bad omen. Most of the inhabitants of the Academy were soundly asleep; Charles could feel that distinct wavelength of their slumbering minds.

He was headed for the east part of the estate, were one of the girls dorms were placed. He wanted desperately to see his twin, he missed her so much.

/Raven…Sis, are you asleep?/

/Why ask while already knowing the answer?/ his sister laughter sounded like bells in his mind. /Where are you?/

/Under your window, can I please come up?/

/Sure …/ She was more than happy to see him.

By now, Charles was so skilled at climbing up the walls all the way up to the third floor where her room was, that he looked like a cat as he worked his way up, clinging to windowsills, and other holding points he knew by hard.

Raven opened her window for him, standing by the light of the moon in her white nightgown and her long blond hair moving with the night's breeze, she looked like an angel.

He climbed up the window and she ran into his arms, he hummed softly and kissed her forehead gently. She wrapped her hands around him, her sensitive nostrils pressed into the crook of his neck.

/I hope I didn't keep you from your sleep/

/You stink/

Charles burst into laughter. /I know, I'll take a shower first thing in the morning… while Patrick is at practice/

/Huh?/

/Never mind…/

"Speak up; I want to hear your voice." She said, letting him go and then studied his appearance; she didn't like what she saw, his skinny face, the bruises and cuts on his skin, the dark circles under his eyes. "You push yourself too hard."

"I have to."

"I bet you forgot to eat today, again."

"You mind-reader."

"No worries, I nicked a plate of food for you from dinner, I hope you like a cold turkey."

"You life-saver."

"I had to impersonate a staff member, you know, pupils are not allowed to take food out of the dining hall."

"Thank you so very much."

Raven opened her cupboard and there laid a tray of food on one of the shelves. "It is rather sad-looking now." She pouted.

"I don't mind."

"I know; you're projecting your hunger so strongly you're going to screw up my diet."

"You don't need a diet, you're perfect." He took the plate of her hands, and set on her bed, starting to feed with his bare dirty hands, tearing the roasted bird with his fingers and teeth, moaning as he chewed.

"You eat like a savage."

/See if I care./

"Disgusting."

Charles gazed upon her, his brilliant eyes laughing; it made her heart clinch, for they were so beautiful.

/You sap.../

He finished his meat and now he turned to the rice and potatoes, mashing them together into large chunks and swallowing almost without chewing.

/Gosh, Charles, you're revolting/ Raven frowned.

"I was thinking… dear sister…." He said, licking his fingers.

"Have you really?"

"Of a groovy way to harness your mutation for the good of mankind."

"Do tell."

"You, my darling, could make a hell of a psychologist."

Raven snarled, what was it to do with her shape-changing ability?

"Everything. You can help people to confront their hardships in life by changing into their fathers or wives or bosses…"

"Charles, Charles… oh my…" She got closer to the bed to weave her fingers through his soft messy hair and pet him fondly. "When do you ever stop?"

He surrendered to her caressing, like a lap cat, big blue eyes still smiling. "Me? Never."

"Your head will grow bigger than a melon! and you'll lose all your hair because your brain will burn it from the inside!"

He laughed so hard; he almost dropped the plate and woke some next-door neighbors.

"I love you so much." He said while done laughing, placing the plate safely on the nightstand.

/sap/

"One thing I don't get, though, no matter how much I try. The origin of your mutation, I don't know if it is a physical or a mental thing."

"What do you mean?"

"I cannot figure out if you change your body, or if you change the minds of your viewers to think they see something they don't."

"I don't know either, why is it so important?"

"Knowledge is power, Sis…" He said while yawning and stretching.

"I know that you need to go to sleep."

He raised his blue eyes to her, giving her a puppy look. She didn't need to be a telepath to understand.

"Yes, you can stay, even though you stink."

"Thank you, sweetie."

She watched him as he swiftly discarded of his clothes, remaining only in his boxers.

Then he burrowed under her blankets, which smelled like lavender and Raven, leaving an opening, so she could join in too. As soon as she did, he placed his head on her soft bosom, placed one hand on her belly, and the other under the pillow. He kissed her again, on her cheek, this time.

/Are you having bad dreams again?/ She asked.

/I'm not sure if they are bad, but they are disturbing/

/Show me/

So he projected one of them into her mind, most of his dreams were about a world in complete disarray, after a horrible natural or unnatural disaster, where people were fighting to survive a harsh and a hostile environment, this was a dying world in its final quivers.

/You're right, they are disturbing/ she sighed softly and kissed his humid hair.

/I'm afraid I'll get lost in one of those dreams, and never find my way back/

/Then I'll find a way to you/ She promised.

He smiled into her skin. /I had few dreams about us too, you know?/

/have you?/

/We were also twins in my dream, even the same age, but we had different names, and we lived on a strange planet, that was nothing more than sand and dunes, and there were gigantic worms everywhere./

/ Gigantic Worms? Dunes? Oh, Charles, would you please go to sleep already?/

/It felt so real, am I going crazy?/

She turned to him, placing her hands on his naked waist; she pressed their bodies together so he could feel their hearts beat as one.

"This is real, Charles, we are real, my love for you is real, I'll never let you go crazy."

"I love you too."

"Good night, brother."

"Good night."


	3. Bliss

The best day in Brian Xavier's life was the day his wife Sharon gave birth to his twin children.

At the time, he was busy like a bee, in Switzerland working on the build of the largest Particle accelerator in the world. He was so submerge in his colossal project that his assistant had to literally shove food into his mouth because he forgot how to feed. He also forgot how to drink and to bath; he would have forgotten how to breathe if this function was not automated.

But then he got the phone-call back from New York, and his wife Sharon was on the line. She screamed at him, for forgetting her due date, and she commanded him to move his ass back to Westchester if he's ever to see her or the kids again.

Running down the halls of Westchester's community hospital, he nearly broke his neck while slipping, but when he found his wife's room he was thunderstruck at the beauty of the scene.

There was his wife, her long blond hair let down to spread on the white pillows; her skin was glowing, as her lovely violet eyes. She was breastfeeding one of the twins, while the other lay in its crib, suckling on his thumb and mumbling softly.

"Sharon…" He gasped.

She smiled at him, while running her fingers on the suckling baby's tinny back.

"I'm sorry I'm so late."

"Come here." She answered and he did, with hesitation.

She kissed him softly when he leaned towards her bed. "Please meet Raven, your daughter." She referred to the child on her breast.

"Hello, little one." Brian petted the small bald head, like he was going to crush it if he wasn't carful enough.

"Charles is in his crib, he is the firstborn, five hours apart."

Brian got up to see his son, but he dared not touch the tiny little thing. "I'm so sorry I forgot, I had a plane ticket dated for two weeks ago… but I forgot…"

"Well, be very glad that I love you so much, Lord Brian Xavier."

"I love you too, I love you all." He sniffled.

"Are you crying, love?"

"No." he whimpered and Sharon laughed her heart out.

After a few months, the Xaviers moved both to Switzerland, so Brian could enjoy the twins as they grow. Two years had passed and Brian could not believe his great fortune, to work in such an exciting place, to have this wonderful beautiful loving wife and two adorable toddlers. He thought that the world was far too generous to him, and he did his best to earn this bliss.

That bliss was brutally cut, when a drunken driver hit his car when he was on his way home. His car was pushed off the road and down the slippery slope of a mountain; he had no chance of survival.

The heartbroken grieving widow decided to move back to England, and settle in Oxford where her sister's estate was. Three month later, she met Kurt Marko, one of her late husband science partners who held a teaching position in the Oxford University at the time. They were married a year and a half later. Kurt's son, Cain, joined in the family as well and the bliss seems to have returned. Yet, Sharon never got over the loss of her beloved Brian, and she has already turned to the bottle for comfort when the problems with Charles began to emerge.

At five years of age, to say that Charles was a handful was a sweet understatement. While his sister Raven was a healthy, happy child, a true blue blooded princess; Sharon could only describe her son with one word- Monster.

He would not speak, he would not look at anybody in the eyes; he would not smile or let anyone touch him. When he didn't like something, he could scream for hours, and when Sharon got mad at him, he tended to run away and they always found him in the basement, banging his head into the walls, never caring for the pain or the blood.

Autism was the dreaded diagnostic and a severe case of it too. Kurt and Sharon set their minds to put Charles in a proper care facility, they hated having him around like this, smashing old antiquities, defecating in the dining room, embarrassing esteemed guests and making life intolerable in general.

Raven was the only one that could reach him; she was the only one who was allowed to hug him at times. She sometimes managed to talk him out of horrific tantrums, and she cried her little eyes out the day her mother explained to her the Charles was going away. She did not take comfort in her mother's explanations and reassurance that Charles was leaving for a better place where they knew how to take care of him. She cried herself to sleep that horrible night.

On that night, the last one before Charles's departure; came a stranger knocking on their door. He introduced himself as Professor Robert Tanaka. He was a small, bald man, with Asian dark eyes and a little trimmed black goatee. He presented himself as a specialist in Autism, with less than conventional practices, but with astounding results.

"I would like to see the child, please" He asked the mother at the door "I wish to see if he fits the profile of my patients."

"Get in." She answered, called her husband to the living room and asked the maid to bring them tea.

Professor Tanaka made a sort introduction, informing them of his education, both at well known British establishments such as Cambridge but also at remote, exotic monasteries in Japan and Tibet.

Sharon glared daggers at him, sipping her tea that she spiked up with gin. "How did you find us?" she questioned, narrowing her eyes.

"I have a college in the institute you are about to place Charles in."

"Why should I let you see the boy? He is already settled."

"I'm sorry for locating you with such a delay; I just came back from Nepal this week and talked to my friend last night."

"All the arrangements are done; the institution is highly recommended and comes with a long waiting list. Why should I throw away this opportunity and take my chances with you?"

"Because, my lady, If the boy is suitable, I can bring you back a healthy son in five years' time, while the establishment you are about to put him in, prestigious as it may be, could only grow a drugged out drooling adult out of him."

Her eyes filled up with tears.

"Don't fill her head up with falls hope!" Kurt scolded the unannounced guest, putting a protective arm on the shoulder of his shivering wife.

"I did not come here to waste your time, or mine." Mr. Tanaka said harshly, losing some of his patience. "I have full confidence in my abilities and the record to back it up. All I need is to see if the son can be treated using my methods, and if so I'll offer my service to you. It will be highly expensive." The Professor added as warning "And the boy might need my guidance for the rest of his life, but I assure you, Mr. and Mrs. Marko, you'll get to meet the real Charles Xavier."

"Money is not an issue." Said Kurt with a frown, but his wife's face seemed to be glowing.

"I'd like that, I'd like that a lot." Sharon's voice was hoarse with emotions. "I wish to meet the real Charles Xavier." Who had such unbelievably resembles to his father.

And for some unknown reason, she trusted that man, this odd looking stranger. She got lost in his quiet pleasant baritone, his warm sympathetic eyes, his calm demeanor and self confidant.

"Let me see the boy."

"Yes, this way, please…" Kurt mumbled, and they all got up from their chairs.

Sharon led the way to Charles's room, which was on the far end of the estate, kept locked at nights, so the boy would not wonder off while everyone's sleeping.

She unlocked the door and led the Professor to the bed. Charles was widely awake; she could hear those hideous sounds of banging from as far as the corridor. "My darling…" She couldn't help but moan when she switched on the lights.

Charles was in bed, in his Transformers pajamas, blood trickled from his forehead down his cheeks and to his shirt, and was also smeared on the wall.

Sharon knew that if she reaches out to hug the boy, it would only get things worse, so she stood in the doorway, frozen, while the Professor put on a charming smile and entered the nursery.

"Hello there, Charles…" Robert smiled softly. "Please dear boy… Calm your mind."

Magic, nothing short of magic, without a touch or another word, the boy removed himself from the wall and blinked at the bald man.

"Good boy, Charles, let go… let everything go…"

"Oh my god!" Sharon gasped at the doorway as Charles breathed deeply and a shy smile appeared on his little face, fragile as the first snow of winter.

Tears flowed freely down her cheeks and she wondered when will her legs cave in.

"Tell me now son, what is troubling you?" The professor probed further, but so very gently. "How can I help you?"

The boy blinked again, wide blue eyes, quivering red lips. "Make them stop…" he bagged in his childish voice.

Sharon sobbed, sliding down the wall to her knees; this was the first time she heard her son speak without screaming.

"Who should I stop?" asked the Professors.

"They make too much noise." The boy continued.

"Who makes too much noise?"

"England."

Robert turned to the quivering goo that was Charles's mother. "The boy is suitable for my treatment." He announced.

"Oh dear god!" Sharon moaned, shivering.

"I'll bring him back to you in five year's time. You have my word for it, Mrs. Marko."

XxXxX-XxXxX

So it came to be the way Charles met his Sensei, or Mr. Tanaka as he preferred to be called.

He took him up north, to a castle on Muir Isle of Scotland, where only a handful of people lived and a hundred times more the amount of sheep.

The first three months, he was giving time to adjust to his new environment, and to the quiet in his head. It did miracles for him.

Robert told him that he was a telepath, and that Charles was one too.

Sensei thought him techniques to separate his mind from others. He was the one to explain to him why he heard everyone with an echo.

/First you hear the thought, and then the spoken word/

/But this is so annoying/ the little boy complained.

Mr. Tanaka laughed heartily. /You get used to it after a while and then it's not a bother at all/

On their second year, when Charles was six years old, Sensei told him that he is going to remove his barriers from Charles's mind and let him raise his own.

The child cried at the news, wildly terrified, clinging to Mr. Tanaka's suit pants wailing and projecting his disapproval.

/There ,there…/ Robert patted the messy soft locks, hugging the sobbing child. /May I share a secret with you, Charles?/

/Huh?/

"I already did it."

"Did what?"

"I already did it, two weeks ago; I removed my protection from your mind. Your own natural barriers swiftly took over, dear; you are in your own control."

"Am I?" asked the astounded boy.

"Yes you are, you now can calm your mind on your own."

Charles's beaming smile was priceless.

When he was seven he was allowed to spend Christmas with his family for the first time. His reunion with his sister was carved into his memory as the best day in his whole short life, teaching him the true meaning of bliss.

And the study continued, Charles expanded his telepathic skills with an awning speed. He leaned to read minds; he leaned to do it gently so he won't put someone in a coma while doing so. He learned to speak to people with his head, not only Robert that was a telepath himself, but ordinary people as well. He learned to switch his abilities on and off at will and adjust their intensity. He practiced reading minds in an increasingly growing range.

/Mr. Tanaka, what does XieXie means?/ he asked one day, at the age of nine.

/It means "thank you", in Mandarin/

Charles got familiar with every part of the human brain by hard, the mental parts such as id, ego and superego, and the physical ones, such as the cerebellum, amygdale and every other part of the lobes.

Mr. Tanaka did not neglect Charles standard education as well, he learned English, Math, History, Philosophy, Religious studies and Gymnastics.

As he grew stronger, he was allowed more vacations at home, with his family, which slowly grew to accept him as a normal child.

Sharon and Kurt never asked Charles what were the Professor's methods and how did he succeeded bringing Charles back from his Autistic world. They were just happy to have him back.

Whenever on vacations, Charles and Raven were inseparable; they spent every waking hour together and sometimes even their sleeping hours.

One day, at the age of eight, Raven shared her secret with her twin. She showed him the way she could shift her form into other people's shapes.

Charles was astounded and his heart could hardly contain his joy, he was not the only one! He had his sister to share his world with! So he revealed to her his secret as well.

At the age of ten, after completing a session of meditation, his Sensei walked into his room with a grave expiration.

"Charles, my lad…" he smiled fondly at the boy. "Time has come."

/Huh?/ the boy projected his bafflement. Whenever his Sensei chose the realm of the spoken, it meant serious troubles for Charles.

"Relax, you did nothing wrong. On the contrary, actually, you excelled beyond my wildest imagination."

The boy gave him a very posh and smug smile back.

"You are ready to bland into the human society. You can now leave this place and lead a normal life from now on, give or take a few."

/Why are you so gloomy, Sensei? This is brilliant!/

"It is indeed…But I'm afraid I have to ask you to make a difficult choice."

Charles broadcast his confusing once more.

Robert smiled at the boy, projecting warmth and pride. "Charles Francis Xavier, you are the most powerful telepath I've ever met, the first and only omega level I have ever encountered. This is why I must sadly ask your permission to accept a horrible task, no one else can take."

/I don't understand…/ Self content, curiosity, excitement, fear.

"There is a great threat looming down on earth, a great hazard that unfortunately no one but me is aware of. As you already know, there are all sorts of special people in the world. Some are telepaths like you and I, but some have other powers, tremendous powers beyond belief. One of them is a man named Magneto, he has a unique and a very rare power to control metal. This is only a shallow description of his abilities, but at your tender age, it will do. This Magneto is a monster, a dark force set on earth's destruction. You, my boy, are the only person that I know who stands a chance at stopping him."

/Wicked! Where can I get him?/

Robert smiled at the boy's enthusiasm "Luckily, Magneto was not conceived in this dimension. In this set of events, all of his ancestors perished in the holocaust. But he exists in his strongest form on a parallel universe, and reaching this earth is only a matter of time for him. I am so sorry, son… I have to ask you to help me destroy him."

/Sure! I will fight him and win and then I'll be the greatest hero of all times! I'll do it! I'm ready! Can we go there now?/ Charles's eyes shone brightly even though he understood lest than half of what his Sensei just said. All he understood was that his help was needed and he was strong enough for his Sensei to relay on. It gave him tremendous joy but something was wrong, his Sensei was not echoing the same feelings, so he frowned /Why are you so sad?/

"Because this means I'll have to prepare you for him. You will lose your chance for a normal life, you will lose your innocence, my lad; you will learn how to use your gift to kill."


	4. Estrogen and Testosterone

Friday, the day of the long awaited party started early for Charles with a Gymnastic class. They were in the west field, playing soccer against one of the upper sixth classes.

Charles, whom his team chose not to pick up to play, was given the role of the ball retriever. He hated Gymnastics, he hated that stupid game, and he felt like a shepherd dog running after every bloody stray ball.

He had better things to do, like studying for his Biology test set in the fourth class, although he was pretty sure he was going to ace it as he was now. He also had a midterm paper to submit to his Oxford university advisor regarding protein folding models that he hoped to finish today.

The soccer game lasted forever, and it bored him to tears, he was so happy when it was over, he handed the balls back to the coach and made his leave.

"Xavier, wait up!" Richard waved at him. He ran down the field to catch up with Charles and gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Did you see my pass to Mathew on our last move? I totally handed him that goal!"

"Yes, I did, well done."

"So…"

"So…?"

"Have you decided already? Are you showing up to the party or not?"

"I've already told you I'm not interested."

"Oh…" Richard could hardly hide his disappointment. "I wanted you to meet that new girl, Rebecca. She's bloody hot. "

"Some other time, my friend. I'll meet her eventually, you know, sooner or later we all bump into each other."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Hey, can I borrow your satin blue shirt tonight? Since you're not coming to the party I mean…"

/Tonight is the night! I am totally gonna ask Rebecca to go out with me!/

"Sure, no worries."

"Cheers mate!" Richard gave him a sweaty hug. "Gonna hit the showers, see you after Drama class."

Charles wanted to hit the showers too, but he saw earlier the rowing crew carrying their boats back from the lake and he wanted to linger until he could feel Patrick's presence leaving that place. He had a twenty minutes break, so he was in no hurry.

/Sis, where are you?/ he reached out.

/Hey, Charles! I am near my homeroom, why?/

/Do you want to have lunch together later?/

/I wish I could, but Bethany is dragging me to the village at noon, she wants to pick up her new dress for the party/

/You got…/

/Permission? Geez! Such an annoying stiff of a brother you are! Sure we do, Mrs. March is sick and her three hours Math class-torture got canceled/

/I weep for you, Sister/ he smiled and considered another clever remark, when he felt a shove, powerful enough to throw him off balance and crush him against a tree trunk.

"Hey, Fancy-Francis, day dreaming again?"

Shit! He always makes the same mistake, talking with Raven and forgetting everything else around him!

Strong hands clenched on his throat, making it hard to breath. Charles looked up at his attacker and found Patrick hovering above him. His usually handsome face was twisted with rage.

"Let go…" Charles struggled to push the words out of his lips.

And Patrick did let go, and even took few steps back, trying to calm himself down.

"I've heard that you won't bother showing up to my party!" he shouted at the smaller boy. "Why is that? It's not good enough for you? Am I not good enough for you?"

/Shit! I sounded like a faggot right now…/

Patrick lowered his head to the ground; his torment was very clear on his face.

"Patrick I…"

"Fuck you, Xavier! Fuck you, little snobbish twat!"

And with that the blond boy fled.

It took a few moments before Charles figured out what the hell just happened. His mind tried to contact Patrick's, very gently, with concern, but he only found a storm of emotions there, rage and yearning, lust and self loathing, Patrick was not coherent at the moment, not even to himself. Charles broke the fragile connection; he didn't want to pry into the boy's privacy any further.

'I wish I was old enough already!' the telepath brooded his way to the showers, 'so I wouldn't be forced to be around teenagers anymore! Once I'm an adult, I'll never be around teenagers ever again! Ever!'

When he reached the showers, he encountered another emotional mayhem. 'Damn stupid teenagers!' he sighed. 'What's now?

He could hear the rattle as he was near the lockers room. Turns out that Douglas Johns and Freddy Ferris found themselves their daily victim and were busy lashing out their natural bully tendencies. They picked McCoy, of all people, funny, because he was twice their size. Yet he was so gentle in nature and that's what got him smeared against the lockers.

"Came on, Bozo! Show us your feet already!"

"Do you have tits on your feet you are so shy about?"

"I bet he has nipples on his feet! Sweet pink nipples!" Douglas laughed and hammered McCoy's head into the locker's door, enjoying a nice banging sound.

"You'll hold him still and I'll take those fucking socks off!" Freddy suggested.

"Let me go!" McCoy bagged, twisting his body around, but not able to get away from their grip.

"Shut up, Bozo!" Douglas bashed the boy's head again.

Freddy grabbed one of Hank's legs and struggled to pull off the sock, while it was twitching and kicking.

"Let go!" Hank screamed, he hadn't got his glasses on, something that sabotaged his struggle against his attackers.

Charles leaned against the wall; he was hidden behind a corner, so the thugs could not see him. He has made up his mind to intervene. Slowly, he pressed his fingers to his temple, breaching into the unpleasant minds of the thugs.

/This is a bad idea/ He broadcast /I am so bored, I have so many other things I can do right now… like… like doing my homework, or practice my French/

Freddy let go of Hank's leg and glanced at Douglas. "This is kinnda boring, isn't it?"

"Kinnda… yeah." Douglas agreed. "I could really use this time for homework, mate."

"Yeah…" Freddy nodded. "D'ya wanna practice French or something?"

"Yeah."

"Come on, let's go."

They left McCoy with haste, and stormed pass through the hall next to Charles never taking any notice of him.

Charles entered the showers a moment later, and he could see the 'WTF' expression writing all over Hank's face.

"Hey." He greeted the American boy, trying hard not to laugh.

"Hey." Hank greeted him back, settling his glasses over the bridge of his nose.

Charles started to undress, and Hank grabbed his stuff and left the room.

XxXxX-XxXxX

It was late in the evening, and some sort of a festive atmosphere settled down upon st. James. All boys and girls of the upper and lower sixth shed their Blue and Maroon colored rigid uniforms in exchange for wonderful colorful party clothing, made out of silk, satin or Kashmir. Perfumed and cologne fumes pleasantly filled the halls, and groups of teens, giggling and excited pounced around, getting ready for the main event.

Although not an official ball, the Hodgson's party was a traditional event for many years in st. James taking place on the first Friday of October, for the older pupils to enjoy.

Sometimes it took place in one of the girls' dorms and some of the times in the boys, depending on the gender of the Hodgson's representative at the time. In the years where there was no representative or if they were too young, one of the graduating Hodgsons would come to throw the party for the anticipating teens.

This noble family was one of the main donors of the academy for years and years, and so the staff allowed them to use any equipment or facility in need for the party, as they saw fit.

This time, Patrick's dorm was decorated with beautiful little light bolts, giving a soft and golden glow to the halls. Other decorative were Maroon and blue silk ribbons (st. James colors) golden balloons, blue and gold tinsels and red roses.

Patrick pounced around like a crowned princes, commanding the staff where to put the food and drinks, talking to the D.J about the choice of music, smooching with the supervisors, all while wearing a dashing tuxedo of light blue color that complimented his fair skin and blond hair.

Charles was in his room, helping Richard to get ready. They had minor crises when Richard cut himself while shaving, but it was sorted out rather quickly.

"Do… do you think Rebecca will like my outfit?" Richard shyly asked, blushing.

Charles smiled softly "Sure she will. This outfit is a killer; I should know after all, I've picked it for you."

"The outfit is fine!" added Justin, another roommate "It's your personality that sucks!"

"Shut up, Justin!" Richard yelled, raging.

"Yeah, shut up, Justin." Charles glared daggers at the other boy.

"Are we going or not?" The third roommate sighed; a black British boy names Daniel.

"Yes we are, after Justin apologies!" Richard demanded.

"I'm sorry, mate, no hard feelings ok?" Justin smiled at Richard that nodded back with content.

The next door neighbor Raj Patel, entered their room fresh from the showers. He stared at everybody with a scolding look. "We are going to miss all the fun, you wankers, let's go, let's go!"

The other boys obeyed, yet Richard lingered for a while. "I wish you'd come too, Charles."

Charles sent him one of his famous blue eyed smiles, he liked this black haired boy, he liked him very much, but he could not explain to him that a telepath can only withstand such a dose of estrogen and testosterone.

"You'd better go." He said to Richard and watched him leave their room.

/Charles…/ his beloved sister floated elegantly into his head.

/Raven?/

/Where are you?/

/In my room, why?/

/Can you come to my room for a few? Pretty please?/

Charles sighed. /I'm not in the mood, Sis. My plan is to use this rare peace and quiet to finish my paper. I have to email it to Oxford by Monday, and it is still rough around the edges/

/Sham, I wanted you to see my dress/

/I can see your dress, stand in front of a mirror, that will do the trick/

/Brilliant/

A vision of his sister entered his mind, in her lavender colored silky dress that matched perfectly her violet eyes.

/You look stunning, my dear/ he gasped.

/I wish you'd come…/

/Go, have fun, but remember that I'll smack any boy trying to have his way with you, so take pity on the little buggers/

She laughed her musical laughter and broke off.

XxXxX-XxXxX

Charles was the only soul in the library that night, and actually he was the only one allowed there after hours because he studied for his first degree in oxford while sixteen. He must have dozed off, on his desk before the flickering screen of the computer; he woke up with frenzy, his head filled up with screams.

/Help! Someone, please, help me!/

A girl, broadcasting all the way to the English Channel, he didn't know her face or her name, but he knew the origin of her cries, Patrick's room.

Startled, he got up on his feet, no time to think, he started running towards the girl. She kept screaming in his head.

/I don't want this, stop this, somebody please!/

He ran across the halls, and downstairs, he turned into the west wing, bumping into drunken teens and passing waitresses that didn't know what hit them, because he made himself invisible. The girl kept screaming in his mind, making it far too difficult to concentrate on anything else.

He saw Raven in the corner off his eyes, surrounded by boys, enchanted by her charms. She somehow felt him and searched around with a question.

/Not now!/ He broadcast her way.

He paved his way among the party people, finding his way to the staircase leading up to the rooms. The projections got stronger, he got visual now and sensual too, it made him sick to his stomach.

He registered someone weeping at the hallway, Richard.

He stopped near the sobbing boy, making himself visible again. The boy had his satin shirt torn and a freshly black eye on his face. He was so very glad to see Charles, although it seemed like he had popped out of nowhere.

"Richard, what's going on?" he fought to turn his attention to the boy.

"Rebecca!" The boy moaned "Patrick and his mates made a pass on her. They spiked her drinks… and then they took her up here. I… I tried to stop them… They pushed me out of Patrick's room and locked the door. God! What are they doing to her?"

"I'll take care of this." He assured the shivering boy.

Charles was bombarded with Richard's mental questions, but he had no time to linger.

He got to the door, Patrick's door. He could hear the girl's weeping inside, but the music from downstairs drowned any cry of help she once in a while managed to force out.

He only had to lay a hand on the door and the horrible scene flooded his mind. Patrick's mind, his roommates' minds, Rebecca's mind, he was connected to them all. He could feel the girl's pain, her humiliation, Patrick's drunken power trip, the other boys' arousal and mockery, all at the same time.

Patrick had Rebecca's skirt up to her waist, she was bent over his bed, and he took her from behind. He was fucking her up the ass while thinking of Charles, Patrick was thinking of him!

Charles nearly vomited.

/Stop! It hurt! It hurts so much!/ the girl wept, he could hear her through the door, as well as Patrick's moans and his roommates' chuckles.

Charles cleared his mind, putting his fingers on his temple./Open the door/ he commanded one of the boys. /Open the damn door right now!/

The key rattled in the lock and as the door merely cracked open, Charles pushed in.

/Freeze!/ he commanded everyone in the room.

And so they did, all of them in mid motion. One of the boys was about to sip on his beer, and it was now spilling on the expensive carpet. Another boy had his dick in his hand, stuck on the verge of his orgasm.

Poor Rebecca had tears rolling down her face, falling to the mattress, and Patrick, he was inside her, that smug son of a bitch!

Charles felt so powerful now, like he had never experienced before. It was electrifying, running through him like an electric charge. He wanted to kill those boys, and he wanted to kill them now.

It was so easy, just give their brain the right command and they will stop breathing, or their heart will stop beating, he could kill them by commanding them to walk to the ocean and drown themselves in it, or jump from the roof of the academy. He could think of a million different, creative ways to end their sorry lives.

He took a deep breath, reaching his decision.

/Patrick, move away from the girl… gently/ He ordered the Hodgson's heir, and the boy obeyed him like a puppet.

Charles noted that his dick was dry, so he didn't come yet, thank god for small graces.

/Rebecca, pick your panties up, stand up straight and fix your clothes/

She obeyed him too, his own private moppet show.

/Get here, everyone, form a line near the bed and zip up your pants/ he continued /Richard, get in here and join us/

He waited until Richard came in, and everyone got decent again. He viewed them like a commander viewing his soldiers.

/This is how it is going to work… Rebecca?/

/Yes?/

/You'll go to your room now and sleep until Monday. When you wake up all the pain will be gone and you'll remember nothing. You just got a bit tipsy at the party, nothing more/

/I got a bit tipsy, silly me/

/Go/

The girl stepped out of the room, his mind followed her to her room and he tried his best to make her appear normal. Once the girl was in a safe distance, he turned his attention to the boys.

/The rest of you, you will remember nothing of this in the morning. You got into a stupid fight and that's that. Richard, to our room/

/Sure/ Richard walked away and Charles wished him sweet dreams.

/Everyone but Patrick, go to sleep… now!/

Patrick's roommates fell on the carpet like dolls.

"You!" Charles growled at the frozen rowing crew captain. "What should I do with you?" his voice was soaked with loathing. "You motherfucking asshole! I should burn every cell in your brain! I should make you think that you are a Cockatoo for the rest of your fucking life! You sorry excuse for a human being!"

/You will never get an erection with anyone but yourself until you sort your shit out and make yourself a decent man!/

/As you wish/

/Sleep!/

Patrick dropped like a log, and for a minute there Charles watched the sleeping boys. Tomorrow, they will all wake up, innocents as newborns, and he will be the only one caring on this disaster for the rest of his days.

All the adrenalin washed away from his system, and he realized that he broke his Sensei's every explicit rule. 'This is my entire fault! I should've come to this bloody party! I should have confronted Patrick when I had the chance! I'm so fucking stupid! Fuckshitfuckshitfuck!'

He stormed away from the room, forcing everyone on his way not notice him. He ran all the way to the lake, to his willow tree, where he cried his heart out till dawn.


	5. On the verge

October's rain came upon the earth with a rage, hammering itself down to the ground with endless fury. Flashes of lightning frequently darted the dark sky and deafening thunders followed.

All outdoors activates were suspended, so the common halls, the TV room and even the library became overcrowded. The tension was high; everywhere fought over TV and computer time, and there were endless bickering over hot waters in the showers, taking out the trash duties along other silly small nothings.

Charles came down with a fever, came down really bad. Maybe it was the overuse of his powers, maybe it was because of the horrors of rape he had witnessed, or maybe just because he spent that whole night outside, under his willow tree, crying his heart out in the storm.

He already spent a week under the covers, sleeping the majority of the time, pretending to be on the rest of it. He was so weak that he even needed Richard's help to walk into the restroom, talking about an all time low.

He would not eat, drink only a little, and his mind was completely shut to the world, but that doesn't mean it wasn't active, on the contrary, it was highly active like never before, bombarding him with hallucinations and delirium dreams.

He was so far gone; he didn't even register his sister's presence at the door when she came to visit.

Justin answered her knocking, for a second there he could only glare at the blond beauty with eyes wide open. "Hey, Xavier, you look hot."

She was wearing off-school clothes, a simple black T-shirt and navy blue skinny jeans.

"Hey, Justin." She entered the room, looking around for her brother and finding the bundle of blankets that swallowed her twin. "Did he eat today?"

"Why should I know?" Justin shrugged.

Raven frowned turning to Daniel who was sitting on his bed. "Did you at least bring him some food?"

"Are you kidding? As if I'd go anywhere near his germs!" Daniel smirked.

"Great friends you are!" She nearly yelled at them. "A bunch of useless idiots…"

Richard lifted his gaze from his notebook. "McCoy was here an hour ago." He eyed the raging female Xavier. "He fed Charles some chicken soup."

"Oh, yeah…" Justin recalled, snorting "He looked like a damn nun on a mission!"

"Very funny, Pig-face, now beat it- all of you!" She commanded "I want some alone time with my brother!"

"Oh, man!" Daniel pouted.

"Fuck off! All of you! Now!"

The boys were reluctant, but none had the nerves to disobey her. One by one they left the room, glaring daggers at Raven.

"When can we come back?" Daniel asked at the exit.

She frowned at him. "I don't know, honey, I'll tell you tomorrow!"

"Bitch!" Justin murmured.

"Pig-face!"

Richard was the last to leave, taking a gloomy last look at his room. "Do you think he'll come around any time soon? My grades are slipping."

"Bugger off!"

"Fine."

And the door was shut, the boys were gone, and she was finally alone with her twin. She locked the door behind her and took a deep breath, before stepping into the room and reaching his bed.

She pulled a chair and set next to him, gently lowering the blanket off his face. Then she quietly studied his appearance. He was paler than the walls of the room, his wavy hair was scattered on his pillow wet with sweat, his eyes shut, and his body quivering with every draw of breath.

Raven placed her hand on his forehead and it was still too warm.

He noticed her soft touch, his eyes flickered open and he smiled. "Hey."

"Hey."

Raven petted his head, cool fingers against burning forehead. "Are you going to tell me why did you do it?" She asked; her voice shivering.

"Did what?"

"Bloody hell, Charles, why did you stay out all night in the storm? Have you lost your mind? Do you have a death wish or something?"

Charles averted his gaze to escape her pain struck face, but her mind sent him a memory of him at five years old, bashing his head against a wall, while Raven holding him tightly, trying her best to soothe him, sobbing in silence.

"I'm sorry."

"Goddamn Charles! Sorry won't cut it! You have to take a better care of yourself!" Memories still swirled in her head, memories he didn't want to look at. Raven surrender to her tears, now weeping with no control.

Charles sighed and opened the blankets for her with an invitation.

And she gladly took it, crawling her way into his bed, pressing her body against his feverish one, squeezing him tightly. Slowly, her sobs subsided.

Charles turned to her, kissing her wet cheek, tasting the salty tears. "I just had the best dream ever." He smiled mischievously and whispered in her ear. "Such a groovy dream, Sis, Wanna hear?"

"Must I?" she sniffled.

"I was a faun."

"A bloody what?"

"A faun, you know, half human, half goat? And I was dancing in a snowy meadow, playing the flute, I think I played a tune out of Mike Oldfield's Ommadwan piece, it was wicked."

She giggled, and the giggle turned into an uncontrollable carefree laughter. "Damn Charles!" She said after a while, catching back her breath "Who needs drugs when they can have pneumonia?"

Their eyes met, bright and glittering with amusement.

"So what's new out there?" Charles asked.

"Mom sent us an email, asking what kind of gifts we would like for Christmas. She also said she'd drop off in London next week, if we want to pay her a quick visit."

"Oh… ok, what else?"

"Your homeroom teacher sends his regards, and McCoy volunteered to prepare you a copy of everything you've missed."

"That's nice of him."

"And… Mr. Tanaka called." Raven's voice got darker. "He said he'd be coming to visit you somewhere next week. He wishes you a quick recovery as well."

Charles nodded; his Sensei must have tried to reach him telepathically with no success so he resorted to more conventional channels.

Raven sighed, snuggling on his chest. /Do you think this means it is time?/

/I don't know/

/Bloody hell! Why does it have to be you? Can't anyone else handle this…Magneto guy?/

/I don't know/

/I'll come with you/

/You know you can't/

/You know I will!/

"Raven, please…" He had no strength for this old argument.

His twin hugged him tightly again and kissed his temple. "Go back to sleep, bother, maybe you'd get to be a Centaur this time."

He hummed his content and fell back to sleep a moment later. Raven stayed awake for a while longer, stroking his face fondly, and after a while she started drifting too falling asleep with her fingers in his hair.

XxXxX-XxXxX

Magneto was annoyed, even more than annoyed, on the verge of furious actually, as he set at the table listening to Beast's arguments.

The fury 6'7 monster was talking quantum physics, string theory and fancy state of the art mathematics, but it all sounded like a big, fat, stinking excuse as to why he couldn't complete the simple task Magneto assigned him to- Get them the hell out of this boring, hideous, shithole planet and fast!

All around the table, the members of the brotherhood lost their interest in Beast's tedious explanations. Mystique was constantly changing the color of her fingernails. Riptide conjured mini tornados and sent them swirling on the table, Azazel was swaying his tail from side to side like a metronome, Emma was fighting a headache, Sabertooth was actually snoring and Pyro set his papers on fire.

"I would like to try a new type of probes; with a better range of communications and improved detectors that could give us better indications about the physical constants of the universe we open a link to through the Einstein-Rosen Bridge. I have a new prototype, but I'm in need for more tests to calibrate it, a month or two would be…" That does it! Magneto lost his patience, the chair Beast was seating in swiftly hovered all the way along the table; metal strips emerged from nowhere and bonded the blue creature to his seat. Beast cried out in pain, because the strips were searing hot and the next thing he knew, he was facing his master eye to eye, with a sharp blade at his throat. "Listen to me…" Magneto growled through clenched teeth. "I don't give a fuck about wave functions or the viewer paradox! All I want you to do is to get us the hell out of here before this planet is toasted, understood?"

The dagger dug into Beast tender throat, drawing blood. Beast gasped, paralyzed with fear, because he knew where Magneto's anger could lead to, he saw it before; his master had no problems killing in public.

"Can you do it or not?" Magneto struggled to regain his calm.

"I am doing the best I can." Beast quivered, begging for mercy.

He found none in those cold grey eyes. "Wrong answer!" Magneto commanded the stripes to get tighter, and Beast howled in agony.

"Let him go!" of all the members of the brotherhood, Mystique was the one to intervene. Her yellow eyes did not shy away from Magneto's angry gaze. "Why don't you face the fact that we only have two choices left- waiting for Emma to recover or finding ourselves a new telepath."

"There are no fucking telepaths on this miserable shithole!" Magneto hissed at the blue female.

"So why don't you ask a favor from Phoenix or even Proteus? They are strong enough telepaths to hear your call universes away."

"I need no favors!" Magneto roared at the shape-shifter "I'd kill you all and stay here to rot before I owe anything to Phoenix or Proteus! And you!" he turned back to Beast "You will come up with a solution soon enough, or I'll have you made into my new sofa!"

"Yes, sir…" Beast wailed.

Magneto sighed and released him; Beast lost balance with his chair and fell on the floor, whining in pain.

"You are all dismissed, except for you, Emma."

"Great!" Pyro smiled at Riptide, who pushed his elbow into Sabertooth side to wake him up.

Azazel said nothing, just popped out and disappeared, Mystique helped Beast out of the room.

"How are you?" Magneto asked Emma as they were left alone.

"Better." The blond telepath sighed. "I wish I was more useful, though…"

"Do you think that the damage is permanent?" his steel grey eyes bored into hers.

She could feel herself choking "God, I hope not! But if it is… what would you do to me?"

Magneto just smiled his predatory smile at her.

Emma gulped and struggled to continue "He's getting more and more dangerous, sir, he passed through my every defense, even my diamond form."

"That is bad news, Emma, you'll have to come up with new strategies, same goes to me. I should have never let you go on that mission alone." The metal bender said. Emma detected a tinge of remorse in his voice, or was it just her wild hopeful imagination.

"I got too cocky and you paid the price."

"I was pretty vain myself; I thought I could handle things on my own."

"And now we're stuck..." He leaned his arms on the table giving her his boyish smile.

Emma trembled, blushing "What are we going to do?"

"Don't worry, sweetheart, if I am powerful enough to open wormholes by now, it is only a matter of time before I can control where they opens to. When that happens I'll need no Telepath to travel through dimensions anymore."

"Then you'll be the one of the most dangerous mutants that ever existed."

"That I already am." He winked at her.

Emma laughed softly.

"You may go now, have plenty of rest. I know you'll overcome this blockage, just go easy for a while."

"Yes, sir, thank you."

With that, Emma left and Magneto remained alone in the conference room. He took some time to consider Mystique's offer, but dealing with Phoenix was a bad idea. The bitch was far too powerful for him to handle. The only reason she stayed out of his way up until now, was that they didn't compete on the same resources; he needed planets that had a metal core, while she preferred gas giants and suns. He didn't want to rub his existence at her face until he was strong enough to handle the attention.

Proteus on the other hand was a real option, made out of pure energy, that telepath had a major disadvantage against Magneto who could manipulate force fields at ease, but that also might be the best reason for him to refuse helping.

Telepaths were an extremely rare breed and most of them were his enemies.

Oh, well, soon enough he'll master the art of traveling through parallel universes and then he could finally exterminate all telepaths, save perhaps Emma.

With that happy thought, Magneto rose from his seat and left the conference room. Long gone were the days, where the brotherhood had to settle for shabby stinking clubs and basements, they were one of the most powerful and successful group of mutants. Wherever they went, they conquest the place easily and gained control of the entire planet, and then Magneto would rise a palace for them, made entirely out of metal, sprung out of the very ground, fresh from the core of the earth.

This planet was no different, and Magneto walked the halls of his palace, all the way into his luxuries room.

The servant on duty awaited him at the door, a pathetic epsilon type of mutant, not easy on the eye and as feeble as a human. But a mutation none the less, so he earned his right to breath.

"Greetings, master!" the servant bow, his deformed face glowing with joy. "Can I get you something to eat or drink? Or would you have me prepare your bath?"

"I'm not hungry, Trout, but a warm bath would be a great idea."

"Right away, sir!" the servant bowed again and Magneto stopped him before he could run away to do his bidding.

"One more thing, Trout."

"Yes?"

"Can you please round up the pets? I want to select my company for the evening."

"Of course." The small mutant bowed again.

An hour later, Magneto was dressed up in a white robe, fresh from the bath, with a glass of fine wine in his hand. Then, the doors of his room opened and in entered the pets, all young, beautiful girls and boys, the human natives of this sorry planet. Magneto surveyed their young naked bodies, as he sipped on his wine.

Which one will he choose? The lovely brunet with the impressive breasts? Or the delicate willowy blond girl? The freckled ginger haired boy or the more mature male with the sad eyes? But than his gaze fell upon a new female, black raven hair, beautiful long eyelashes, she was no older than sixteen; he smirked at her and pointed his finger. "This one."

Trout bowed again, and released her from her chains. "Have fun, sir." He pushed her to the bed.

The other pets could not hide away their relief, because they knew that sometimes pets coming into this room were not lucky enough to leave it alive.

The girl shivered and wept as he took her by her slender wrists and pulled her to him. She had some spirit in her, and she struggled.

Magneto smirked; he was more than happy to accept the challenge.


	6. The hardest part

/wake up/

Charles opened his eyes to the dark of the room, blinking at the ceiling. The only light source in the room was Richard's ridicules Donald Duck clock with its eerie phosphoric eyes. Charles took a deep breath and listened very carefully, he could hear Justin, Daniel and Richard snore softly, each in his own style; he could hear the clock ticking.

/wake up now, Charles, please/ the voice insisted.

This deep baritone filling his head was definitely not Raven's. /Sensei?/

A warm chuckle echoed in his mind. /Yes Charles, took you quite a while, I was beginning to feel offended/

/Sorry, sir…/

/Feeling any better now? I've heard that you have been sick/

/Yes I feel better now, thank you/

/Good, I need you to get up now. We have to talk; I'm waiting for you at the keeper's hut. Grab a warm coat and good boots though, it is freezing outside, might even snow later/

/Are you really here at st. James? What happened? What it going on?/

/Come on now… come to meet me/

Charles got up, leaving his warm bed with a bit of reluctant. He let his eyes get used to the dark, because he didn't want to light up any lamp and risk one of the boys getting up.

At the entrance, he faced the hanger and reached for his Chocolate colored trench coat, made of Pashmina wool that Raven had bought him last Christmas. He slipped into his leather boots and quietly left the room, shutting the door softly behind him, not waking anyone up.

The corridors, usually swarmed up with noisy, energetic teenagers were deserted and gloomy at this late hour, only dimly lit in case anyone had to use the common restroom in the middle of the night.

And Charles wanted to use the restroom to wash his face before meeting his Sensei, and maybe try to tame his hair while at it.

He entered the restroom and opened the tap, and brought fresh cold water to his face wash the sleep away. Then he ran his wet hands over his hair, trying to convince his locks to agree on a single direction.

'How vain are you…' Raven would sigh, and he smiled to himself in the mirror.

Then one of the bathrooms' doors was slammed open.

Charles hitched his breath, raising his mental shields up, ready for battle, but the boy coming out of the bathroom was none other than Patrick.

The blond boy froze on his place, staring at Charles with surprise that turned quickly into loathing.

Charles frowned, this was very strange, what was the boy doing here? It was not even his dorm to begin with. "Is everything alright?" he asked.

The boy's hazel eyes were red with blood, indicating that he's been crying for a while.

"Bog off, Fancy-Francis!" Patrick mumbled and left the restroom, slamming the exit door on his way.

/Charles?/ his Sesnesi's voice crept back into his mind with an amused reminder.

/On my way /

His Sensei was right, it was bloody freezing outside, his nose and ears suffered the most as he walked in the icy air of the night, taking the familiar path to the hut. The Oak and Elm trees loomed over the pathway; the wind ruffling their foliage, the moon was low and covered with clouds that dimmed it silvery light. Charles didn't want to remember st. James by this bleak picture; he preferred to remember it with the bright colors of summer and the cheerful spirit of the kids, just few days away from the summer holiday.

He tried calming his mind, watching the swirling fumes of his breath drift upwards in the cold air. Was it time? It felt like it was time.

Reaching the keeper's hut, he only sensed a faint presence of his Sensei there. Wondering about it, he opened the door and entered the cold room.

His Sensei was not there in body, but Charles could locate a glowing transparent figure at the middle of the room- Astral projection, a technique he was yet to master.

"Sensei." Charles chose the realm of the spoken, to emphasize his respect and bowed deeply before the flickering figure.

/Forgive my absences of flesh, I am still occupied elsewhere but I'll be joining you as soon as I'm done/

Charles wondered if ever comes a day where he can divide his attention between several tasks as perfectly as his Sensei does, in the mean while it seemed like he couldn't even walk and think at the same time.

/You got taller./ Mr. Tanaka smiled with much joy

"A tad." Charles flushed. "May I take a moment to heat up the room?"

"Of course, is it that cold there?"

"Freezing."

/You should train yourself to ignore sensor information./ Mr. Tanaka said while Charles turned the side lamp on and then drugged the old gas heater to the center of the room. /Then you could swim all the way to the northern pole naked without a fuss./

"I'm not such a good swimmer." Charles smiled brining a match to the burner to wake up a spark so the heater would start to produce warm orange flames.

The room got pleasantly warm so he shed off his coat and boots and set in front of his Sensei's projection, mirroring his lotus position.

"Where are you, Sensei?"

/ I am currently in Kolkata at the house I rented there, trying to put my newest acquirement to bed. When she is asleep, I'll be joining you/

Mr. Tanaka projected the girl's story, an eleven year old telepath, he found in a mental hospital, kept at horrifying conditions. He bribed the clerks and got her out of there.

/Another stray./ Charles grimly smiled /Eleven years old, is there still a chance for her recovery?/

/One must always hope/ answered his Sensei. /So what have you been up to lately?/

/Read me/ Charles asked, being a telepath made small talks much smaller.

His Sensei gently entered his mind, reading everything about his recent studies and visions and all that happened regarding Patrick, his wise dark eyes narrowed with concern.

/I'm sorry you've been through all that, my lad/

/I misused my powers/

/You certainly did not, Charles, all you did was saving that poor child from a horrible life lasting trauma, and preventing Patrick from ruining his future. They all should be grateful to you, even though they cannot remember a thing about it/

/I wanted to kill them/

/But you did not, so stop tormenting yourself about it, we have things to discuss, far more important/

Charles heart accelerated, fear took over him. 'Is this time? I am far from ready! I need more time, I'm not strong enough to face him! Moretimepleasjustsome moretimeplease…'

/Calm your mind!/ Mr. Tanaka commanded him.

Charles nodded, breathing deeply. /…Fear is the mind-Killer…/

/We don't have too much time/ Sensei sadly admitted /Magneto is getting more powerful with every passing day. I have attacked his Telepath a while ago, limited her abilities and bought us some more time. But he has already mastered the art of opening wormholes to other dimensions and he is getting more and more intuitive about it. Soon he'll need no telepaths to travel around, and earth would be in a grave danger./

/But I know nothing about traveling through dimensions, we've never got around to…/

/But you do, Charles, you do! Have you already forgotten? You are far more powerful than I am. You have been traveling to parallel universes for quite a while now/

Charles's heart leaped to his throat /What the hell?/

/Your mind have already traveled to other realities, seeking out your parallels, naturally drawn to them/

/My what?/

/Parallels, other versions of yourself. The faun, the boy who rode worms…/

/The soldier who died at Dunkirk, the Telepath who got paralyzed at the shores of Cuba…/ realization hit him like a stork of lightning; he covered his mouth with his hand, as if he said something shameful. /All my odd, wild dreams… were real?/

/Yes, they were real. Your mind naturally knows how to travel, and were the mind goes…/

/The body follows…/

/It is like changing the radio channel, my lad, adjusting body and mind to a different frequency. Only omega and alpha types of telepaths can achieve this. And you have done so, under the age of seventeen, remarkable/

/How many parallels do I have?/

/Countless of them, and yet so few/

/Maybe I can try to reach them? Try to get them to help?/

The professor smiled at the boy's naivety. /I'll have to advise against it, my lad. I have traveled far and long and met many versions of you, but you are the only omega I came across. Finding another would take a long amount of time, which we don't have…./

/I…/

/There…/ Mr. Tanaka smiled /She's asleep at last, here I come/

The Astral projection changed, solidifying with every fracture of a second, and before Charles could even gasp, his Sensei was there in the flesh, bending a bit forward, like a passenger in a fast halting train.

/Amazing!/ Charles never saw his Sensei doing this before.

He also never saw his Sensei sending such a frightening glare, eyes all blackened and menacing. His Sensei roared and in his hand was a blade, swaying swiftly in the air, threatening to cut Charles's body in two halves.

Charles had no chance, he was totally taken by surprise, he could only follow his instincts, and before he knew it, he was at the cabin's door, holding his sword.

Mr. Tanaka growled as his attack only met the vacancy Charles left behind him.

'I teleported! I bloody teleported!' Charles gasped but he had no time to enjoy his achievement. His Sensei turned his body around and charged again, this time with a psionic blast.

Charles raised his shields as quickly as possible, averting the energy at the last second. But as pressure build up in his head, he realized that the blast was only a diversion. The pressure nearly split his skull apart, the pain drove him down to his knees, and his Sensei picked up his sword again and stormed at him, stabbing him at his side.

The attacked Charles screamed in agony and disappeared to thin air.

/Gotcha!/ The real Charles smirked, standing at the doorway, sending his psionic attack at his Sensei.

The small bald man cried out in pain, discarding his sword and falling down on the ground.

"Sir?" Charles face darkened with worry. Did he go too far?

/You are ready, my boy/ Mr. Tanaka managed to get up into a sitting position; blood trickling from his eyes, his ears and nose, but his face was shining with pride. /You are as ready as you can be/

Charles lowered his head. Fear, Excitement, Sadness, Acceptance.

/So now what?/

"I'll be heading back to Kolkata, you'll teleport yourself there after me. Just link your mind to mine and follow, there is nothing to it. We will train some more and fine-tune your ability to travel through dimension, we'll discuss strategies and attack planes, and then … I'll have to send you on your way."

Tears formed in the younger telepath's eyes. It was time; it was really time to meet his fate. "Do I get to say goodbye?" his voice came out husky and trembling.

"Yes, my lad, of course you do."

XxXxX-XxXxX

It was a stroke of luck to have the Markos at London at this time of year, or at any time of year for that matter, the couple was traveling constantly around the world as Kurt's job and Sharon's social activities demanded them to attain Science conventions, Charity balls and many other events all over the globe.

They were staying at the Hyatt hotel, at the west end, suite number four; it took Charles everything he had to knock on the door.

His mother answered it, still giggling about something her husband just said, dressed up in a wonderful red silky dress that matched her golden hair.

"My darling boy!" She gasped and pulled him into the room, kissing him on both cheeks than trying to clean up the red lipstick marks. "Such an unexpected pleasure! Kurt!" she shouted while dragging the boy into the living room.

"Is room service here? I'd really like some tea before we head off." said Kurt from the bedroom.

"This is not the room service, honey, it's Charles!"

"Charles?" Kurt's voice rose in surprised than he stepped into the room, while fixing up his tie. "We sent you that email a week ago, and you never responded, I thought you wouldn't come. Where is your sister?"

"Hello, Mr. Marko." Charles turned his gaze to his stepfather and gave him a polite smile "I'm sorry I didn't call in first, and that I came here alone. Can you both sit down for a minute?"

"Sure, darling." Sharon answered "just let me contact the room service first and add another slice of cake for you."

"That won't be necessary." Charles pleading gaze made her hang up the phone.

"Is there something wrong, my love?"

Kurt joined his mother at the sofa and now they were both staring at him.

"I… I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Sure, sweetheart, what is it about? Something happened at school? You look like you don't eat properly, does the food…"

"Mother, please!" Charles pleaded. "Please just let me say what I came here to say."

Sharon smile got tensed; she sensed that this was a serious talk.

Kurt hummed and gazed at his golden watch "Is this going to take a long while? I don't want us to be late for the gala, dear."

"It won't be long." Charles sighed and the door opened again and in came the room service.

Few more minutes passed by at Sharon poured tea for everyone and had a small argument with Kurt about the amount of sugar he was allowed to put in his cup.

Charles cleared his throat few times, and still got no attention.

His mother was lecturing Kurt about his blood pressure.

"I'm going away!" he said loudly and stopped the bickering.

"Where to, my dear?" Sharon froze her cup halfway to her lips.

"I've joined a volunteering program, sponsored by the UN. I'm taking off to Sudan tonight."

"Sudan? Stop that bloody nonsense!" Kurt said with fury.

"It's not nonsense! I want to contribute in the efforts to rehabilitate Darfur."

"Darfur, dear?" Sharon gasped "Such a ghastly hideous place! Can't you volunteer somewhere else? In London perhaps?"

"What about your education?" Kurt screamed at him "What about your first degree?"

"They can wait!"

"I'm not sure that I follow you, dear…" his mother mumbled, her eyes searching for the location of the liquor bar."This is all so very sudden, is there a way to talk you out of this..."

"No! I've been thinking about it for a year now and my mind is set."

"We will not pay for this stupid…" Kurt resorted to threats.

"I have savings." Charles answered. "And I am not asking your permission. The only reason I bothered to come here is that the communication in Sudan is very problematic, and I didn't want you to worry your minds out while I'm there."

"How very thoughtful of you!" Kurt yelled at his and turned to his wife "This kid is crazy! Has been crazy since birth!"

"Kurt!" Sharon yelled at him back like a wounded animal.

And so it went on for what seemed like forever, a torture that would never end. Insults and shouting and threats, tears and screams and when it was over, Charles dragged himself back to the luxurious lobby with not an ounce of energy left.

Hank was waiting outside, under the watchful eye of the Hyatt Concierge.

"How did it go?" he asked.

Charles said nothing, just grabbed him by the hand and dragged him to a nearby alley, there he threw himself at the other boy's chest, weeping, changing back into Raven.

Hank felt the steam covering up his glasses, but he let the girl cry her eyes out, and not without awkward, he reached with his arms to hold her.

"We should head back to St. James." He said softly "The last train leaves in forty five minutes. We should get going, there's a bus leaving Oxford Street in about five minutes. You know about the st. James regulations and since we've already left without permission I'd…"

"Shut up!" Raven screamed at him and he immediately clamped his mouth with a blush. "Shut the fuck up! And give me some space, you clawing beast!" Raven screamed at him, and pushed him away with violence.

Hank wanted to say that this was not fair since she was the one to jump him at the first place, but it seemed pointless to note that fact with her unstable state of mind.

"I hate you! You goddamn selfish bastard!"

Hank just watched her screaming into the open air, not knowing if he was the selfish basted or she had someone else in mind.

"If you can hear me… I just want you to know that I hate you! I hate you so much, so don't ever bother coming back!"

Raven screamed and wept and Hank could only watch her with misery, not knowing what to do.

But her weeping was eventually subsided, turning into moans and interrupted by hiccups. She took something out of her jacket pocket, a latter that she already read a hundred times before.

"My dear, beloved sister…" it said. "Time has come and I must go. I promise you that whatever happens, if I am still alive, I'll find my way back to you. Be strong and brave, Raven, as I know you are, live a happy long and full life. Please don't forget me. Love, Charles."

"I'll never forget you! How could I ever forget you?" Raven started weeping again, crushing on the hard concrete pavement. Hank reached out for her, and with a hesitated, gentle move, he pulled her into his shy embrace again.


	7. Already seen

He found himself at the rims of a substantial human activity- a market place, in an alley facing the city's main bazaar. He thanked his luck he did not materialize in the middle of it, because that would be a sorry way to start a stealthy attack.  
  
The first thing he noticed was the heat, the air was boiling hot, just like Kolkata, or even worst, and he also noticed that the sky was dusty yellow and that the air tasted like sulfur. This was not a parallel earth, or maybe it was, in a celestial scenario where three moons hovered in the sky, one red, one green and one blue.  
  
He was hungry, seems like dimensional traveling had a way of opening up his appetite, with no local currency he wondered what could be done about it. Well, hidings in that alley was not going to sort things either so he'd better go about; learn how this world work while on the move.  
  
Gathering up some courage, he stepped out of his hiding place and started strolling on the market streets among the locals. Wearing his simple cotton Indian clothes, while his sword safely hidden in his backpack, he had no troubles blending in with the population. They were poor, sun stroked and weary; the harsh expression on their faces indicated of the harsh life they've led.  
  
The food stands were pathetically bare, and offered him nothing he wanted to sink his teeth into. He actually passed a stand where they offered roasted rats, how revolting that was, yet he was so hungry, he almost got tempted. Finally he reached a bakery stall, where some burned out buns were put on display, the most edible thing he saw there. He was about to approach the seller, a small skinny man with dark eyes, when he remembered he had no money to offer.  
  
There he stood as an utter git, ogling the buns, empty pockets and all, when suddenly; out of nowhere, it hit him, a major déjà vu. He has already been here; he has already visited this broken sad world in his dreams. He recognized everything, the dry hot air that stung the throat with every breath, the minor earthquakes that pulsed under his feet constantly, and the delirium dark blue skies where the three moons glided.  
  
He lingered for too long. The seller was starting to get jumpy, throwing glances everywhere, and moving his weight from one leg to another.  
  
Charles noticed some soldiers at the corner of the street, clad in heavy metal armor and yet moving so lightly ahead. Bugger! They were moving towards him!  
  
A rattle, someone shouting, storming right at him and pushing him off the road.  
  
"Krunt! Krunt to etishi! Kenishi moru na?"  
  
A girl was shoving him off the street, making them both tumble over and roll down a dusty ditch.  
  
Charles waited till the soldiers passed them by, before taking a good look at the girl who just saved his life. She had a mocha colored skin, curly black hair and olive-green eyes.  
  
She was talking again, with passion, but Charles understood nothing of her words. He reached into her mind, locating the lingual area and studied her language; the process took less than a minute.  
  
"Are you crazy?" she continued "Prancing around like this on the streets? Do you want to get drafted?" She scolded him "Although with this fair skin of yours, you might as well end up as a pet." She corrected herself, smirking.  
  
Charles blinked at her, realizing how careless and stupid he was.  
  
"My name is Artesha." She offered him her hand to shake, some gestures were universal. "What is yours?"  
  
"Charles, thank you for saving me back there."  
  
"Oh, well… what kind of a name is Sharles anyway?"  
  
"I'm not from… around." He admitted, blushing.  
  
"Are you one of them?" she narrowed her eyes. He got a visual from her, of the huge metal palace at the edge of the city and its alien inhabitants, the blue and red demons, the white witch, and their metal commanding king, not to be mistaken for anyone else, Magneto.  
  
"No, I'm not." He answered trying hard not to hitch his breath as he stumbled on the first image of his target. Blurred and distorted by her hatred and fear, but a living, breathing Magneto none the less.  
  
The girl narrowed her eyes still, studding him. "Where are you from, then?"  
  
"A faraway place called Earth, I'm not sure if…"  
  
The girl crossed her arms on her chest, lips clenched tightly.  
  
"Look, it doesn't matter; I won't be staying here for long. I… I'm looking for a place to crush for the next few hours, and maybe something to eat too. Can you please help me with that? I promise I'll be out of your hair in no time."  
  
"Out of my hair?" instinctively she sent a frightened hand to her locks.  
  
Charles breathed out his frustration; training would have never prepared him for this kind of a mess. He felt like he was losing his control over the situation. He was wondering if he should just give up and erase her memory of the last few minutes.  
  
But Artesha smiled at him at last, offering him her skinny dark hand again. "Come."  
  
She led him through the streets maze to her house that was a mere clay hut, pained white with lime just like the rest of them.  
  
She placed him in the kitchen and offered him a plate of something of granular texture, and purple colored. She sorted a plate for herself as well.  
  
Charles was puzzled; he had no idea what this thing was. Wrinkling his nose he sniffed the plate, it smelled like dirt.  
  
"Lakrusha!" Artesha smiled at him "Very fresh, only one week old. Eat!"  
  
The girl used her fingers to mush the food into chunks and she chewed on it with her mouth open.  
  
'My sister would have something to say about it.' Charles grinned and followed Artesha's example. Those strange purple grains tasted somewhere between rice and mushrooms, but it did the trick, it calmed his hungry belly so he could think straight again.  
  
Stage one completed- assimilate in the local population.  
  
Stage two was about to begin- gathering information and choosing the best course of attack.  
  
He turned to the girl after finishing his meal, already feeling guilty for what he was about to do. Scanning someone so deeply was a nasty thing to do, but he had little choice.  
  
He put his fingers on his template, pushing in, claiming her mind, exploring every neuron, examining every synapse.  
  
The story came unfolding to him, as far as she had witnessed it, or was told about it. This was once a green, lush planet and its people lived in a society that resembled the early Medieval Europe back on earth, but one day, about twenty years ago, the sky gods landed on the earth, led by this powerful dainty named Magneto, and they tore the land from inside out, extracting liquid metal from the belly of the earth.  
  
They used it to build ships that disappeared into the sky, and they took good men and cast metal on them, trapping them inside and forcing them to become obedient soldiers. One of them was Eferon, Artesha's brother, he was captured a year ago and Artesha never saw him since. Her pain and longing almost overwhelmed Charles as he struggled to continue his probing.  
  
Nowadays the gods were about to leave, and the planet is wounded, bleeding magma and metal all over, getting hotter, barren, suffering from horrific earthquakes that slowly tore it apart.  
  
Charles moaned in sorrow, for this planet and everyone who dwelt on it were doomed. He came here to kill Magneto, he came here to prevent this fate inflicted upon Earth and who knows how many more planets, but saving the people of this world was beyond his powers.  
  
The girl screamed, breaking his concentration. He looked at her terrified face, blood trickled from her eyes and her nose, and she lost her balance, fell and tried to crawl away from him.  
  
"You are like them!" Artesha screamed. "You are exactly like the white witch!"  
  
The white witch? The telepath his Sensei attacked a while ago.  
  
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He broke the contact and bent forwarded, offering her his hand so she could stand again.  
  
"Get away from me!" the girl hissed at him like a cat.  
  
"I'm not like them." He said in agony "I'm nothing like them! I came to stop them. I came here to kill Magneto! Please, you have to trust me on this! You have to help me. Once Magneto's gone, you'll get your brother once again!"  
  
The girl stopped squirming, staring at him for a while as if one of them is crazy.  
  
"What did you say?" she gasped.  
  
"I said I am here to end this, I am here to kill Magneto."  
  
"When?"  
  
"Tonight."  
  
"Are you true?"  
"I am. I have powers too, like the white witch, yes. But I am here to help; I am here to make them all go away."  
  
Charles watched her, wishing he could calm her down, but he knew he would not enter her mind without permission again.  
  
Artesha set up, hugging herself, breathing fast, her mind storming. "Stay out of my head, or I'll call the soldiers and get the white witch here!"  
  
"I'm sorry, I promise to stay out of your mind from now on. Will you help me, Artesha, please?"  
  
"What can I do for help?" her olive-green eyes turned to him filled up with tears.  
  
"You can let me stay here till nightfall and let no one disturb me."  
  
"Done." She nodded and sniffled.  
  
Although not friendly anymore, the girl stayed true to her word and placed him in her room, leaving him undisturbed. He set there in the dark, cool room and entered a state of meditation, as his Sensei trained him to do so once, slowly increasing the range of his reach, until it engulfed the entire city. He had to be careful, not to get near the blond telepath, or Magneto's, not to enter any mind too deeply, not to draw any unwanted attention.  
  
He skipped from mind to mind, commoners, soldiers, officers, low ranked members of the brotherhood. He learned faces, passwords, routines, maps, patrols, weapons, traps, emergency protocols. His mind drank everything like a sponge, and the hours slipped away like water threw sand.  
  
When he opened his eyes again, they were bright with determination, he had a plan, and he was ready.  
  
XxXxX-XxXxX  
  
He stepped in striding with all the confidence he could master. He faced the gate keepers of the palace.  
  
"Commander!" one of them greeted him with wonder, both jerked up and saluted him. "What are you doing here this late at night?"  
  
"None of your goddamn business! Open up!"  
  
"Yes, sir." The soldier pushed on the button and the metal gate slide on its track and allowed him access.  
  
Metal, Charles noticed, everything around here was metal, and knowing Magneto's abilities it meant that danger lurked everywhere, even from the floor under his feet.  
  
He had to use his telepathy with caution, because of Magneto's white witch. Sensei said he had limited her range to only few feet but if he links his mind with all the palace's dwellers, or convince them that he was invisible, she might just pick it up.  
  
Taking the form of the day watch commander was easier and safer, because he only needed to affect the minds of the troops he stumbled upon, and he did not tumble into many of them, just a clerk at the reception, bored out of her mind, and three patrol guards that saluted him as he made his way into his "office."  
  
He had that password extracted from the officers mind earlier, and he fad it to the control panel. The door to the office opened up without any trouble, so far, so good.  
  
He locked the door behind him and placed his bag on the table. He didn't pack much, back in India, just few ropes and plastic hooks among some other small non metallic weapons; he also had his sword in the bag, so he took it out and strapped it to his back.  
  
Magneto's room was ten floors above this office, almost at a straight line. After studding his habits today, at three AM, Magneto was most likely to be asleep, so searching him in his room was the logical option.  
  
Charles opened the window and looked up at Magneto's room direction, and the floors were dark all the way up, a good sign. He glanced down, and saw no dramatic activates on the ground, he should go undetected, clad in black against the black night.  
He took his ropes, attached one to its plastic hook, and he thanked Magneto's taste in architectural that dictated many balconies and decorations, lots of encoring points to work with.  
  
He put on his gloves, mask and hood and then started the slow paced climb. Picking up a good hooking point, aiming, swing the ropes, checking the stability of the encore, pushing himself carefully upwards and starting all over again.  
  
This was a tedious job, but he did not try to hurry up, or else he'd fall down to get smeared on the ground without even reaching his target.  
  
Once he was at the right floor, he took a minute to relax on the balcony, his muscles ached, and his body trembled.  
  
'This is it, Charles, this is the moment you've been practicing for your whole life. Don't you dare fuck it up!' his heart skipped a bit as he reached for his sword and pulled it out of its sheath.  
  
Magneto's window was open, maybe to catch some of the night breeze, or maybe because he was so confidant in his power, he never considered an open window as a risk.  
  
But he was wrong, and Charles was going to prove him that. It had to be swift, paralyze the man and then cut his throat, not an elegant move, but fast and efficient.  
Charles entered the room, padding on the floor in complete silence. While the red, green and blue moons sunk below the horizon, a silver new one now illuminated the sky, bathing the room with silver rays.  
  
The room was gently moonlit and slumbering, the white organza curtains swayed with the night breeze.  
  
For some reason, Charles lingered, a silly thought crept into his mind, he wanted to take a good look at the man before killing him. While his Sensei described Magneto's powers, strong and weak points, he never took the trouble to describe the man's looks. Height, hair color, main features, something to give his humanity away.  
  
Now Charles had his first and only chance to have a good glimpse of his enemy.  
  
The silver rays caressed the bed with soft light, and to his surprise Charles noted that his enemy was a rather youthful and handsome young man. Nothing in his sleeping face showed his menace and cruelty. He has thick dark somewhat bronze hair, strong features and a well toned body.  
  
Charles breathed, focusing on his mission again. He tried to paralyze the sleeping man, but his body would not obey, his brain refused to cooperate.  
  
Puzzled, he tried again, and when he could not pass through, he noted a force-field surrounding Magneto, protecting him from invading brainwaves.  
  
So he was not utterly helpless while in sleep, Charles admitted to himself, he'll have to manage without; this was going to get real ugly.  
  
Charles took carful steps towards the bed and hovered above the sleeping man. He lifted up his sword and was about to strike when Magneto opened his eyes and smirked at him.  
  
"Hello, Professor." He said, and his eyes turned bright yellow, his body became blue and took a female's shape.  
  
Charles had little time to think, he could not afforded confusion, instinctively he stabbed the hideous creature in its stomach. The blue female demon screamed with agony, blood pouring out of her gashing wound. The lights turned on, and a sound of alarm flooded the air.  
  
Charles was terrified; nothing in his preparations prepared him for this scenario. He knew his best chance was to escape the room through the window, but to his horror the metal walls liquefied themselves and melted together until the window was no more.  
  
He was forced to run into the corridors, where the palaces soldiers gathered up to attack him.  
  
'I will not fear' He adjusted his gripped on his blade. 'Fear is the mind killer.' He settled into an attack position. 'I will face my fear; I will let it pass through me!' He charged at the swarming legions, commencing the battle he knew was his last.


	8. Your move

Know thyself  
  
Your move

Magneto waited on the top floor of his palace, sitting on his polished platinum throne, his favorite metal. The vast hall before him had an equally vast roof to floor window on its east side, viewing the nighttime ocean and the hovering silver moon. The atmosphere in the hall was tense, stretching with anticipating, all the attendants throw glances at their leader and at each other, waiting for the upcoming attack. Beast and Sabertooth roared, as their animal instincts yearned for battle, the rest of his men awaited his orders with silence.  
Magneto smirked to himself as the commotion started and glared at the people below him.  
"Miss Frost?"  
  
The blond telepath nodded, concentrating, she was connected to Mystique who was awaiting the invader as they were speaking, in his bedroom. "He's powerful, omega level…he is…" she lifted her eyes with surprise "It's Professor X."  
  
"Cannot be." Magneto lashed at her "Professor X is only an alpha rated mutant."  
  
"But it is him." Emma insisted.  
  
Magneto's eye started ticking as it did when was in great rage. His gaze searched for the human girl, who was surrounded by his guards. "Thank you for the heads up, Artesha."  
  
The girl shivered under his gaze and bowed.  
  
"Now, for your award… who is your brother again?"  
  
"Efron." She said weakly.  
  
"Right." He summoned the metal clad soldier, there was no telling one from another by the looks of them, for they were all covered with the same green-black metal coating from head to toe.  
  
Magneto knew each soldier by his electromagnetic signature, so Efron was located with ease.  
  
Artesha cried as she saw her brother, trapped in his metal casing, who was doomed to serve as Magneto puppet until death, if not for this stroke of luck that helped her find a way to set him free.  
  
Magneto rose from his throne and stepped towards the human, he placed a hand over the soldier's head and in seconds, the metal cage was nothing but a liquid puddle under Eferon naked and unsteady feet.  
  
"Brother!" the girl shivered again and ran to her disoriented sibling, who was obviously in a state of shock.  
  
"Off you go!" Magneto sighed with loathing; human emotions were so sticky and crude.  
Artesha wasted no time, grabbing her brother's wrist and dragging him out of the hall, away from all those monsters.  
  
"He wounded her!" Emma shouted, sharing the shape-shifter's pain. "He wounded Mystique!"  
  
"I'll tear him to pieces!" Beast growled loudly. "Let me kill him now!"  
  
Magneto sighed under his helmet, and with a twitch of a hand sealed all the windows of the castle. "I'll handle this, Beast, go help Mystique. Sabertooth, Riptide and Azazel, go check the parameters, see if there are any more attackers. Pyro, Frost, you're with me. This is going to be interesting."  
  
Magneto formed a smooth tunnel downstairs to where the attack took place, and glided down elegantly, while Frost and Pyro had to use the staircase. That advantage gave him the time to observe the attacker in private; oddly enough it was a teenager fighting against his troops.  
  
The boy was so submerged in his attack that he did not note Magneto's arrival; he did not sense him either thanks to Magneto's famous helmets.  
  
The metal manipulator took the time to appreciate the boy's impressive fighting skills. He enjoyed seeing him move through the mob of metal soldiers and answer their blades with his own. Once in a while, when a soldier got the teen trapped and was about to strike a deadly blow, the boy simply teleported out of harm's way. So somehow he could use his telepathy for teleportation, that's a new one, impressive.  
  
But no matter how powerful the boy was, there were too many soldiers, and it was only a matter of time until they overwhelm him, Magneto contemplated joining the kill, just for the fun of it, or to letting the pawns finish the boy themselves.  
  
Only then boy made a sudden turn on his place lifting up his gaze, facing Magneto with a defiant smile. Like a stab to the heart it was, such eyes, Magneto already forgotten how blue they were.  
  
"There you are, Magneto….and I almost deemed you a coward." The boy said, somewhat cocky, but Magneto smiled at the cheeky attitude.  
  
"I save my strength for real battles." Magneto answered. "I'll stick to watching, if you don't mine."  
  
Charles grinded his teeth, pouting, he clearly didn't like the idea of dying like this, not even by the hand of his enemy.  
  
More and more soldiers poured into the hall, Pyro's flames came hitting the ground around Charles, from upstairs. The red and blue demons popped into the scene out of the thin air and were about to launch an attack of their own.  
  
Charles was outnumbered and surrounded, yet he kept his fear at bay, biting on his lips and tightening his grip on his sword.  
  
The troops swarmed him, and for few seconds there, he had completely disappeared from Magneto's line of view. For some reason unknown and unforeseen, a prick of worry pained Magneto's heart. This pissed him off, some nice trick Professor X chose this time, using the body of himself as a teenager, a direct hit below the belt. He will not be fooled; he won't mourn this boy's death.  
  
A surge of psionic energy suddenly erupted, and every soldier froze on his place, some even fell with a big clung from the air. Magneto watched with awe as each in his soldier got stuck in his distinct position of attack, looking like gigantic green G.I Joes.  
  
The boy struggled to free himself from the pile of soldiers that collapsed on him. He had a particular difficulty releasing himself from Beast's claws.  
  
"Impressive, Charles." Magneto smiled at the boy, realizing that each and every soldier was frozen, including Miss Frost and Pyro on their last staircase step. "I never thought you had it in you."  
  
Even Charles looked astounded, as if disbelieving his own doing. He passed his gaze on the hall, taking in on his accomplishment, there was not a soul in the entire palace that he did not freeze save one, and he turned and blinked at the only man who was still out of his reach.  
  
"Such a powerful psionic blast, even poor Miss Frost in her diamond form couldn't handle it." Magneto said, smirking at Charles.  
  
"Are you trying to compliment me to death? Cause it's not likely to work."  
  
Magneto laughed now. "Humor, Chares? So unbecoming… and also this…" Magneto walked among his frozen men, as if walking through a garden full of statues. "Why freezing them, Xavier? Ain't it too much of a hassle? Why not kill?"  
  
"Because once I kill you, they all will be free." The boy lifted his non metallic sword, to an attack position; readying himself for the long awaited battle against his archenemy.  
  
'Odd' Magneto thought 'Very peculiar, but if professor X whishes to act so carelessly, who am I to stop him?' "Very well."  
  
He drew some metal out of the wall and prepared himself a long sharp blade. His cold grey eyes met Charles's blue ones. "Show me what you've got!" he smirked and launched at the boy.  
  
They exchanged some experimental blows and them they pick up a murderous pace, brutal and swift. They fought all over the hall, knocking down frozen soldiers, climbing on top of others, answering each strike with another.  
  
"How much longer can you keep it up, Charles?" Magneto breathed heavily, after a while "Freezing all those people and fighting me at the same time?"  
  
"I don’t know." The boy honestly answered "Care to find out, old man?"  
  
"You little shit!" Magneto mumbled at the boy's smug smile. "Time to end this!"  
  
He charged at the boy again, damn that kid and his agile body, damn himself for neglecting his training and focusing on his metal control alone.  
  
Charles was starting to gain the upper hand and after few more strikes, he had Magneto on his knees, with his sword at his throat.  
  
"Go on…" Magneto locked eyes with the youth with rage. "Finish what you've started!"  
  
Charles hesitated, for some reason, unable to pull this through. Maybe Sensei was wrong about this man? Maybe there was still some good hidden inside that monster, maybe he could be saved?  
  
Charles thoughts were disrupted by a wild laughter.  
  
"Damn all to hell, boy! You are not Charles Francis Xavier!"  
  
"Yes I am." Charles stared at the man, confused, this mad laughter got on his nerves, crumbling his self confident.  
  
"You are nothing like him! Just a fucking miserable parallel, I knew it! I knew it from the start! I got you good, boy, I got you done! Did you really think you could win a physical combat against me? Did you honestly believe I'm out of shape? Means I put on a good show, didn't I? Now, just look down, will you?"  
  
Charles glanced down carefully at his sword and to his horror; he watched as liquid metal slithered its way to cover it. Once it was in Magneto's control, it flew straight into the wall and smashed itself to pieces.  
  
Now the man got up to his full height and loomed on the boy.  
  
"Professor X would have known better than barging into my metal palace without any backup!" he said and strips of metal tore themselves from the wall.  
  
"Professor X would never freeze his enemies if he could have them killed!" Magneto continued. The metal strips grabbed Charles by his wrists and ankles, shoving and then melting him into the walls.  
  
He was caged tightly like a bug on a spider's net.  
  
"Professor X would certainly not hesitate killing me!"  
  
Charles whimpered, horrified, he lost his control over the soldiers and the mutants. All of them came back into motion, charging at him, while the metal strips pulled him to the walls and glued him there.  
  
He was trapped, helpless and lost, Charles wished he could welcome death with dignity, but wishes are one thing and reality is a different story altogether.  
  
In his vision, he'd welcome death with a stoic composure, with a few inspiring last words, in reality his eyes had filled up with tears and he wet himself like a toddler.  
  
Magneto waved his hand and pushed the soldiers away making a pile out of them at the corner of the hall, he commanded his mutants to halt just with a mere glare and then he approached the boy, predatory look in his eyes.  
  
He came so close to Charles, that their faces were almost pressed to each other, Charles could feel the man's warm breath on his neck, could smell his cologne.  
  
"Who are you?" Magneto asked, whispering.  
  
"I am Charles Francis Xavier." The boy sniffled "Son of Brian and Sharon Xavier." After that, over exertion finally got the best of him and he passed out.  
  
"Are you really?" Magneto whispered still at the unconscious boy, and then he turned to his men. "Get him cleaned up and send him to my room."  
  
XxXxX-XxXxX  
  
Magneto summoned an emergency meeting at the conference room. He called on all the patrolling guards on duty and investigated the way Charles infiltrated his fort. He also did some damaged control, turns out that two of his officers died at the psionic attack. One drowned at his own bathtub and the other fell off a roof, other than that there were some injured, including Mystique, but she was treated quickly and was expected to make full recovery in no time, thanks to her superhuman healing powers.  
  
After the investigation ended, Magneto discarded everyone but Frost. He glared at her in silence for a while, and she glared back with amusement.  
  
"Sooner or later you'll have to talk." She said softy. "I cannot read your mind with this ghastly helmet on."  
  
"I know, but as long as this parallel is here, I must keep this on, and I like that less than you do. Did you manage to get a good read of him? What did you see?"  
  
Emma snarled "I could not pass through his defenses; I've already told you he's an omega level telepath, very powerful. Giving time, I'm sure he could rival Proteus, or even Phoenix. You should kill him, sir. Kill him before he gets around this stupid helmet. Kill him while he's still young and inexperienced, you might not get a second chance. Why didn't you kill him already?"  
  
"This is not the correct question, Miss Frost. The correct question would be why Professor X did not kill him already?"  
  
"I don't know." The blonde telepath shrugged "Maybe he got a bit sentimental at his old age, maybe the kid reminds him of himself."  
  
Magneto bitterly laughed at her suggestion. Professor X developing warm fatherly notions? Hell would become a skiing resort before that happens.  
  
"Professor X should have ended him with a blink of an eye once he learned that the parallel was a higher leveled mutant than him. There is something hiding here, some sort of a plan. No doubt in my mind that X had trained this kid and sent him over here to be captured with a good reason."  
  
"More of a reason to kill him now."  
  
"I don't think so, not until I learn more. I want to figure out what X is up to, and who else is involved."  
  
"This is too much of a risk!" Emma nearly shouted, clearly what she saw in the boy scared the wits out of her.  
  
Magneto smirked at his telepath. "I wouldn't have got the brotherhood to where we are today, if I had been afraid of taking some risks. And just to refresh your memory; I'm an omega level too."  
  
"But this is different, if this is a trap set by Professor X…"  
  
"He's already made his move, and I will not hesitate to make mine." He muttered in fury, getting up from his seat and with no words of farewell, he left the room.  
  
Emma sighed and rose on her feet as well, seems that even after all those years and even with no board involved, those two were still playing chess.

  


XxXxX-TBC-XxXxX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N = long time no see, huh? Well… life happens to you while you try to complete a fan-fic. You're more than welcomed to leave a note. See you again... soon, I hope. Take care.


	9. My favorite mistake

As Charles slowly regained consciousness, bits and pieces of the events of the last hours flashed back into his brain. He remembered the blue furry monster approaching him with a syringe in his paw. He remembered the needle injecting cold liquid into his neck artery and few seconds later he felt dizziness and nausea, and his mind sunk into complete disarray.  
  
Somewhere along the way they bathed him, and dressed him up with thin cotton slacks, not bothering with a shirt or underwear. Then he was dragged into a room and chained to a wall, hands high above his head, a hurtful and restricting position.  
  
Seemed like hours, he spent at the dark abandoned room, and now his mind slowly regained his lucidity, but he wasn't sure this was such a great thing.  
  
The first thing he did was to try and teleport away, teleport back home. But his brain was unwilling to cooperate, throwing him into a brutal vertigo time and again. So he gave it up and tried to get free instead, yet each time he tugged at his shackles, his shoulders threatened to dislocate, and the pain nearly made him pass out again.  
  
So he stopped, stopped moving, stopped exerting his mind and for a long while he just concentrated on breathing, in and out, fill the lungs and empty them again, as simple as that. He listened to the constant pacing of the guards outside, the statics of their radio connections, the opening and closing of doors.  
  
Yet after a while his thoughts wondered away and turned to a direction as dark as the room that surrounded him. He started by counting his mistakes.  
  
Mistake number one- bursting into an open public space without measuring the risks first. Mistake number two- opening his heart to that local girl and telling her his plan just for the sake of comforting her. Mistake number three- not erasing her memory after realizing mistake number two. Mistake number four- choosing to set the attack at the palace, which was made entirely out of metal, which was his enemy's element. Mistake number five- entering said palace with no backup plan.  
  
He could go on and on, but his brain got bored of the topic and searched other things to count. So it turned to the lovely chore of counting the variety of ways Magneto could choose from to kill him.  
  
He could spear him to death with metal blades, he could melt him into the metal walls, he could use the iron in his blood to boil him from the inside, he could flood his respiratory system with mercury, he could inject lead into his arteries, and so on and on, all methods were well known and painful, frequently used by Magneto on his enemies. Luckily for him, Magneto could only kill him once.  
  
Before Charles thoughts drifted to the next cheery task- counting all the things he still haven't manage to do in his young life and now probably never will, the distinctive sound of Magneto's heavy boots filled the hall, and was getting ever closer.  
  
'This is it!' Charles breathed deeply, hurting his shoulders while doing so. 'Embrace yourself! This is almost over!'  
  
XxXxX-XxXxX  
  
The door opened, followed by switching up the lights. Magneto frowned at the scene before him, his gaze surveyed the floor; he could still detect the residues left of the blood pool where Mystique had been stabbed. Even after they cleaned everything up, he could sense the traces of iron left on the floor.  
  
The attacker responsible for her injury was now shackled to the walls, and he was about to find out the price you pay for hurting a member of the brotherhood.  
  
Magneto sealed the door behind him and entered the room. The young telepath did not raise his eyes to meet his gaze, but his body flinched and trembled violently at his presence.  
  
While entering the room, Magneto was yet to decide what to do with the kid, not very much like him; usually he was a very decisive man. Usually he took little time at passing judgment and making a call. His intuition never failed him so far, and it was so irritating not to know what to do this time. Everything relied on the next few minutes, life and death at the whim of chance.  
  
"Hello, Charles." Magneto greeted his captive with a smile.  
  
A chair drugged itself from the corner and set itself in front of the chained boy for Magneto to seat on.  
  
Few moments had passed and Charles did not answer or even lift up his gaze.  
  
"It is rude not to answer a greeting Charles, didn’t Professor X teach you that?"  
  
"I don't know any Professor X." the boy whispered, still staring at the floor.  
"Funny…" Magneto smirked "because you only need a look in the mirror for an acquaintance."  
  
"My Sensei was a man named Robert Tanaka, a Japanese British professor. I've never came across anyone named Professor X." Charles answered, weary yet calm.  
  
"A powerful Telepath such as X could control the mind of any human he wished to, including that Tanaka Sensei of yours."  
  
"You cannot jump to this conclusion."  
  
"You cannot jump to that conclusion." Magneto replied with amusement.  
  
Charles felt his body stiffen with slow rising anger, he could not figure out the need in this ludicrous conversation.  
  
"Why does it even matter, who was the one to send me? huh? It is painfully clear that you are a sadistic psychopath killer that needs to be stopped, my mission was more than justified."  
  
"Truly is that your opinion of me? I'm hurt. I thought that at least I deserved the benefit of the…"  
  
"Would you do us both a favor and cut to the chase?" Charles interrupted Magneto's speech with growing annoyance. "Kill me already."  
  
"Patience, kiddo, geez…" Magneto huffed and leaned over to take a closer look at the boy. "How old are you? I bet you are not a day over fifteen."  
  
"I'm almost seventeen!" Charles muttered with irritation.  
  
"Sorry, my bad,. So, seventeen, you say? And already so eager to die? I met Professor X when we were both in our mid thirties. We sure had our share of fun before we parted ways. Such a long time has passed since then…and… Meeting a seventeen year old version of him is so… refreshing, I wonder if Charles thought of you as an anniversary gift to me, this is so likely of him to do. Thinking about it, it is actually our one thousand's anniversary next week."  
  
"One thousand?!" Charles gasped, astounded, glancing at Magneto for a brief while, dropping his gaze back to the ground as soon as Magneto's grey eyes almost locked on his. The man looked like he was thirty at best.  
  
"Such a naïve parallel you are." Magneto chuckled "Did you think that a mutant can get as powerful as me without finding his path to eternal life? Skills takes time to develop, strength needs to be built layer upon layer. Professor X found his way to eternity, as any other respected mutant, Phoenix, Proteus, Apocalypse and so many others you had the pleasure of not meeting."  
  
"I am not an anniversary gift! Nothing like that at all! I came here to kill you and stop you from destroying more worlds!"  
  
Magneto stretched in his chair like a big feline, smirking still. "About that yeah…I admit I have a tendency to destroy the planets I use, they do tend to get unstable once I drain their metallic core, but then I move to the next one so I see no problem with that. Oops, did I just offend your little bleeding heart?"  
  
"Arrogant prick!" Charles screamed, twisting wildly and rattling his shackles, ignoring the pain it caused. "Stop toying with me! Kill me already and be done with it!"  
  
Magneto breathed deeply and left the chair, getting to the floor on his knees, reducing the distance between them. He himself wondered why he lingered still. What was it about this boy that prevented him from a swift clean kill?  
  
"Alright now, Charles, I'll cut to the chase. You, my friend, have been deceived all of your life. You have been tricked by one of the most vicious, powerful enemies I've ever had, manipulated by him as clay in the potter's hand, to get here and fall into my possessions. I know this, because Miss Frost scanned you while you were unconscious and recognized your "Sensei" as the host Professor X used while attacking her, not such a long time ago. I have no idea as to why he wanted to put you in my way, but he did so fully knowing you stood no chance against me."  
  
Charles listened to those harsh words astounded and, shaking like a leaf, biting on his lips, refusing to believe. If only he could read Magneto's mind now, or any other member of the brotherhood for that matter, to see what was true and what was a lie. For so many years he relied on his telepathy to carve his path through life, and now it was taken from him and it felt like drowning. He began to weep in silence  
  
Magneto took note with satisfaction and continued "I was advised to finish you off, not without a good reason. You are just a baby now, but you do pose a great threat to me. An omega level telepath; such an exquisite rare find. You could become a powerful tool in the hands of Phoenix or you could be the next host of Professor X's soul, yet if you survive those hardships, you'll definitely become a monster at your own right."  
  
"No! You lie!" Charles hissed "You've been lying ever since you opened your goddamn mouth! Sensei warned me of that! He said that you are the most cunning, intelligent, evil creatures that ever excised!"  
  
"Funny, I could say the same things about him." Magneto replied dryly.  
  
"I will not be fooled by you! Not now, not ever!" The boy said, tears flowing on his face with no control.  
  
"Fine then!" Magneto frowned, battling his frustration, seems like this boy had no desire to leave this room alive. "I will not argue with you over this, it would be just a waste of time. I will, however, give you a generous offer."  
  
"Huh?" Charles stopped his crying and almost made an eye contact again.  
  
"Here is this thing. I am in a situation right now, caused by your dear Sensei, where I am trapped on a dying world with no means of escape."  
  
"Boo hoo." Charles couldn't help this childish remark.  
  
Magneto ignored his desire to slap the boy and continued. "Usually I open a wormhole for my telepath to locate our next suitable planet, but now she's hurt and cannot reach that far, and this place is about to get ripped apart at any given moment. My offer to you is to find us our next target and then I will give you back your freedom, and you could go back home. What do you say?"  
  
"I say fuck off!" the boy answered with fury he didn't know he had in him. "What will prevent you from destroying Earth one day?"  
  
Magneto pondered for a while. "Alright, I will give you your freedom and my word never to harm this Earth of yours, your home planet, I assume. Do we have ourselves a deal?"  
  
Charles's breath hitched. A true dilemma. He wanted to go home, he wanted to hug Raven once more, and finish his degree, and fall in love, become a teacher and fill so many other dreams he secretly nurtured. He yearned for it; lift this burden, renounce his destiny, put this nightmare behind him, wake up from this, as if it was only a bad dream.  
  
The tension was written on Magneto's face as well, his left eye ticked again, he almost held his breath while waiting for the boy's answer.  
  
After an agonizing moment, the young telepath nodded in agreement and Magneto released the breath he didn't know he was holding with great relief.  
  
"Yes, I think I'll do this." Charles said with determination "I'll do this. I'll let you kill me, knowing you'll die here and rot in hell!! Fuck you, you hideous monster, Fuck you all the way up!"  
  
"You stupid little cunt!" Magneto answered with a roar of his own. He clenched his hands with rage, and punched the boy, time and again with his strong fists, until his lips, eyebrow and nose bled.  
  
"You want to play the fucking hero? The fucking martyr? Do you think I won’t find another way around? You smug little twat! Do you even know what I'm capable of doing to you? Look at me, you little shit! Look at me!" Magneto grabbed the boy by his chin, forcing their eyes to meet.  
  
Wrong move.  
  
Eyes so big, so bright and with such a staggering shade of blue. Magneto felt his heart clenching, and then it hit him- this boy was a virgin. Virgin red mouth, pretty virgin cock, tight virgin ass.  
  
A sinister smile appeared on Magneto's handsome face; it scared Charles far worse than the shouts from before.  
  
"You like your humans, don't you Charles?" the metal wielder hissed "You'd rather die than let me destroy their little sweet homes. Do you?"  
  
The boy gagged, still forced into a direct eye contact with the older man.  
  
"Dying as a mutant is easy, my dear, but how about living as a human, huh, Charles? Can you handle that? Can you handle being my little human pet?"  
  
"What is it?" Something hovering in space caught Charles's attention, a small ball of liquid black-blue metal, nothing bigger than a grain of rice, but it was gliding closer and closer to his face.  
  
Magneto gave him a toothy smile "Osmium, a rare noble metal that has a very unique ability to jam the signals of the telepathic brain."  
  
"Like the metal of your helmet."  
  
"True, clever boy."  
  
"What are you doing?" Charles twisted his body with all the strength that was left in him, but he could not get away from that shiny metal droplet.  
  
"I will insert this metal into your skull now, coating it with a nano-layer of Osmium and you'll be a telepath no more. How about that?"  
  
"No!" Charles startled and started squirming under Magneto's hold again. "Please don't! No! God, no! Please!"  
  
Magneto just smirked at his tears "You should have taken that deal while it was offered to you."  
  
"No!" Charles screamed as the little drop of metal entered his body through one of his nostrils. Soon a wave of pain washed all over him, an agony he had never experienced in his whole life. His entire body went rigid, his back arched, stiffed with pain, his muscles contracted violently out of control.  
  
He fought to remain consciousness, as the metal slowly spread all over his skull, settling between bones, veins and brain tissues. It felt like his head was set on fire, it felt like his heart was bound to explode, but a fragment of a second later, it all ended.  
  
The pain was gone, but so was the world. The world of thoughts, the world of telepathy, rich and boundless and so natural like breathing, was gone, all gone. Charles struggled against this odd new silence that threatened to suffocate him.  
  
Magneto watched the process with great fascination, and as Charles's body relaxed, he allowed himself to take off his helmet, not hiding his relief.  
"I'm thinking of a number between one and a million, which one is it?" he whispered softly.  
  
"Fuck you!" Charles screamed.  
  
"No…. not even close, I'm afraid. I'm thinking now about my next move, what would that be?"  
  
"Fuck you!" Charles screamed yet again, heavily panting.  
  
"Correct!"  
  
The chains of the shackles around Charles's wrists disappeared into the wall, leaving behind only the bracelets.  
  
Charles collapsed with agony and would have fall on the floor if Magneto did not catch him.  
  
His body, so light, Magneto thought as he carried the boy into his bed. He laid him on the soft mattress and relieved him of his cotton slacks, tearing it apart.  
  
The beauty of the boy's naked body invoked such an intense hunger; Magneto was surprised to find in himself. His member got painfully erected, his balls clenched tightly with anticipation.  
  
Charles groaned, disoriented, he clenched his fists on the silky sheets, trying to get up, but his arms were too shaky, too weak to support his weight, he almost fell down to the floor.  
  
"Stay down." Magneto said, and the metal on Charles wrists and ankles pulled him back towards the mattress. Charles struggled against the force that bound him and managed with enormous effort to lift up his chest.  
  
Magneto frowned on the boy's attempts while fetching the lube out of a drawer. He needed nothing but a gentle shove, to push Charles back to the pillows again.  
  
Charles moaned again, fresh frustrated tears forming in his eyes.  
  
Magneto unzipped his pants and released his throbbing cock, to coat it with the lotion. He had to hurry, though; lust took hold of him, and a sense of urgency to claim that lean, virgin body of that beautiful boy.  
  
No foreplay, no kisses, no sweet nothings, no preparations. When he was ready, Magneto just mounted the boy, spread his legs and pushed in.  
  
Heaven, Magneto moaned his pleasure, pure, hot and tight heaven. He could not recall any of his pets giving him such a refined blissful sensation.  
  
The hot wetness squeezing his cock, the pulsing virgin flesh engulfing him, the youthful innocent body under him, intoxicating, exhilarating, dangerously addictive.  
  
Magneto started thrusting in and out, enjoying the sweet friction of pushing himself through that tight virgin entrance.  
  
"Charles…" He moaned, cupping the youth's face with the palms of his hands, kissing those lush red lips, devouring them with hunger, while his cock continued penetrating the boy with ever growing speed.  
  
Charles eyes were hazed with pain, his breath shivered, he was on the verge of passing out again, drifting into the realms of hallucinations. He did not struggle, he barely registered that his body was invaded. Somehow his soul seemed to leave his body and hovered so lightly in the room, like it would drift forever out of his reach with the next soft breeze.  
  
Magneto kept thrusting into the boy, submerged in his pleasure. Somewhere deep inside his mind, a voice, foreigner and unknown to him, screamed that what he was doing now was a mistake, a grave mistake.  
  
'Let it be!' He answered that voice, thrusting his throbbing hard cock into that wonderful hot tightness, welcoming his approaching climax. 'This would be my favorite mistake.' He concluded and came. He came so intensely hard, his vision blurred for a moment.  
  
Then he glanced at the youth below him, as his semen poured in waves into his body coating his insides. The boy's eyes were wide open, but those brilliant blue orbs stared at nothing, and the boy's lovely features were frozen and shut, like a deserted house.  
  
"Charles?" Magneto called for him, but he did not get an answer.  
The metal wielder gently pulled out of the boy and tucked him under the blankets, still getting no response. He kissed the boy on his cherry lips again, and whispered "Good night, my pet." Then he zipped up his pants and left the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what do you know, such a quick update, well the muses are kind at times. See you soon (I hope).


	10. Bygone tomorrows

Bygone tomorrows -(Chapter nine)  
  
  
A memory.  
  
White, bright daylight on the golden shores of Phuket, it was blazing hot, even before noon, even under the shadows of the palm trees, where Charles hung his hammock and lazily watches the glittering sparks of sunlight running across the waves of the ocean.  
  
This was the summer holiday about a year ago while he and Raven where fifteen. The Marko-Xaviers rented a villa on the beach, which came with a maid, a driver and a cook included and they had lodged there for almost a month already.  
  
And while Kurt, his wife and son preferred to stay at the private, fortified section of the beach, mingling only with other upper class tourists, having civilized pool parties and boring bbqs and tennis tournaments, Raven and Charles ventured into the less civilized part of the island and associated with the common tourists and the local population, or as their mother preferred calling them- 'Those hideous mongrels'.  
  
Two weeks ago they sneaked out late at night to join a full moon party on a beach, where Raven fell hopelessly in love with a charming green eyed French student named Étienne. Their blooming romance ran on her shaky French, his pitiful English and pure hormones.  
  
Ever since, whenever the three of them went out to the city together, at some point Raven would always neglected Charles, leaving him to entertain himself in clubs, restaurants, shorelines and street markets while she and her beloved Étienne were busy making out and pushing their tongues into each other throats, not that he minded it at all, thank you for asking.  
  
That is why last night he rejected her polite offer to join the love birds to a party, a party that she still did not return from.  
  
So happened to be, that Charles was all alone in the villa, cradled in his hammock, sipping on his coconut milkshake and listing to music on his iPhone, he was not jealous at Étienne, not jealous at all. Why should he be jealous at this 5.9'' tall, honey skinned, green eyed, frog nibbling French boy? Hell, no.  
  
So he was lying there on his hammock, swaying lazily between two palm trees, definitely not waiting for his sister to come back and fill him in on her whereabouts.  
  
But eventually Raven did show up, staggering barefoot on the white sand, with a big smile on her face that had put the sun to shame.  
  
"Make room." She ordered him and climbed into the hammock and on top of him.  
  
"Raven, it's too bloody hot!" He pouted and squirmed but got ignored. She snuggled on his naked chest, her hair fell on his face, and it smelled like the sea.  
  
"What are you listening to?" She grabbed one of his earphones and her lips twisted with disgust "The Corrs, Charles? That's so gay!"  
Charles snatched his earphone back "What should I listen to? Or should I ask what Étienne would listen to? Being such a groovy Music student that he is …"  
  
"Where is everyone?"  
  
"The Marko family went out on a jeep joy ride and a picnic up the hills."  
Raven gave away some snoring sound affects to accompany his explanation and then she giggled.  
  
"Yes, I'm afraid so."  
  
"You should have come to the party last night with us, it was so….awesome! There were so many interesting people there from all over the world, and we had such amazing conversations and the energy of the ocean, and the lights and the music! I wish you were there!"  
  
"To see you and Étienne suck face? I don't feel the appeal…"  
  
Raven nudged her elbow at his skinny ribs. "We did more than sucking face, so you know…" her voice turned naughty and suggestive, and she blushed to her ears.  
  
He turned to his side, so they would face each other, unplugging his earphones, lowering his shades. She just earned his undivided telepathic attention. After few seconds his eyes got wide with disbelieve "No, you didn't!"  
  
She giggled, blushing still, her skin and eyes glowing, he never saw her more beautiful than this.  
  
"But we did…" She whispered.  
  
"Get away!"  
  
"Charles!"  
  
"Bloody hell…"  
  
"We did it all the way, he popped my cherry."  
  
"Gross, Sis!" Charles landed on his back, eyes into the sky, breathing hard. It took his few minutes to take this information in.  
  
Raven waited in silence, slowly patting his arm.  
  
"Did it hurt?" he asked after a long pause.  
  
"Yes, it did."  
  
"I'm gonna kill him! I'm gonna fucking kill him" he jerked up in anger.  
  
"But it was beautiful … it was… magical." Raven said in a dazed lazy tone, and placed her hand on his chest, pulling him gently back down.  
  
"You did use a condom, tell me you did."  
  
"Of course we did, I'm not bloody stupid."  
  
"And you were not pissed up by any chance."  
  
"No... Not as much."  
  
"And you are ok with it?"  
  
"I am over the top ecstatic about it!"  
  
Blue eyes met Violet ones, and Charles smiled sheepishly. "Then I guess it's fine by me."  
  
"Oh! Thank you very much, not!" She scolded him and they both burst into laughter.  
  
After calming down, Charles threw a hand over her shoulder. "You do realize that at the end of this holiday you'd probably never get to see him again."  
  
She shrugged. "This is just a summer fling, Bro, you should try one too."  
  
"With whom exactly?" Charles chucked with embarrassment.  
  
"Are you kidding? Remember that hot German bloke named Thomas? At the full moon party, he was soo ogling your ass."  
  
"He was sooo not!"  
  
"Chicken!"  
  
XxXxX-XxXxX  
  
  
Waking up...  
  
A dark deserted room, on a distant unknown planet which was floating at an anonymous solar system at an unidentified parallel universe, so far away from the people he loved and cared about.  
  
He woke up and regretted doing so the moment he did. His whole body ached, his lower parts and his head fought between them for his attention. He ran his fingers down his inner thighs and brought it to his nose to have a sniff at it; it smelled like semen and blood.  
  
He took a deep quivering breath, fighting away the ever growing need to cry, and decided to try to go back to sleep again, so he turns to his other side, and faces a pair of glowing yellow eyes.  
  
"Marry mother of Christ!" He said in a total panic, twirling his way away from those radiating orbs, messing the sheets up and falling off the bed in the process.  
  
"Not just yet…" A female soft chuckle and then the lights turn on.  
  
Charles peeped through a hole in the tangling sheets that he warped himself into, to see this frightening looking female creature, a very blue creature and a very naked one as well.  
  
"The name is Mystique." The blue thing announced and slowly crawled its way to the edge of the bed to have a better look at Charles who was now on the floor. "We have met before, remember?" She continued "On this very same bed, where you ran your sword into my stomach."  
  
"D…Did I?" Charles stuttered, pitifully, studding her blue frame, yellow eyes and blazing red hair. He did recall that fight, as well as her ability to shape shift, so much like his sister. "I… Probably should… apologize."  
  
The blue creature snarled "You probably should, but will you?"  
  
Charles lowered his gaze and bit his wounded bottom lip.  
  
"Well, I am better now, thank you very much for asking, I have wicked healing powers."  
  
"Good to know. I did not mean to harm you." Charles mumbled.  
  
"You were after Magneto, I know, but I would gladly die a hundred times before I let you as much as scratch his face. I wish I could kill you right where you lay now, you little twerp!"  
  
"So what's keeping you?" He sent a weary yet taunting smile her way. "Do us both a favor."  
  
She set up on the mattress, grabbing at her knees in a childlike position. "I am not allowed." She almost pouted. "Magneto ordered us to keep you alive."  
  
Charles huffed his disappointment, keeping his eyes on the floor.  
  
Mystique studied him for a few moments, and her harsh gaze soften a bit against her will. The boy looked so miserable and lost, trying to keep a brave face while naked and shivering on the floor, tangled in bloodstained sheets.  
  
The shape shifter slowly slithered herself down to the floor next to the boy, she ogled him with such a complex expression, Charles instinctively reached her with his mind to try to understand it, but all he got was a horrible feedback, he immediately shrank with pain and covered his head with his hands.  
  
"Trying to mess up my mind, baby telepath?" Mystique smirked at him. "Give it up, you have no more powers, thanks to Magneto, you're just a harmless little pet."  
  
Charles fought the pain, blinking his welling eyes, panting heavily.  
  
She came closer to him, studding him with her yellow bright eyes, her hands and her nose "You stink." She concluded. "We have left you alone for three days to adjust, and all you did was to sleep. You haven't touched any of your food." She passed a glance on the dining table in the room, where five full trays lay untouched. Charles couldn't even remember when they were brought in.  
  
"Magneto ordered me to bath you and feed you, since you apparently unable to manage that on your own. Come on, now, the bathroom is this way…" She taped on his shoulder, gently and only for a brief moment.  
  
Her touch was light and casual yet something inside him was triggered and he snapped. "Don’t touch me!" he screamed and crawled away from her until he bumped into the wall "Don’t you dare touching me! Leave me alone; leave me the bloody hell alone! Go away! "  
  
Mystique backed off a little, confused and baffled for a while. "Come on, it's just a harmless bath…" she tried again, but the boy would not listen.  
  
He kept screaming his lungs out. "Don’t touch me! Stay away from me! GoawayGoaway!" and he did not stop, even when he began to lose his voice.  
  
She tried touching him again, offering some comfort, but it got only worst. Charles stared moving back and forward, like a man possessed, banging his head to the wall with every sway.  
  
He scared the hell out of her, and she felt helpless and distressed.  
  
At the sound of the ever repeating screams, Beast stormed into the room, growling, claws drawn out and ready to strike.  
  
"Mystique!" He howled at her "Are you all right? Did that son of a bitch did anything to you again? I'll kill him, I'll fucking kill him!"  
  
"No!" the shape shifter had to scream too, to overcome the background noise. "He did nothing, he just got… mental or something…"  
  
Now they both glared at the boy, who bashed his head mercilessly against the wall, not caring for the blood gushing out of his forehead.  
  
Mystique felt the tears filling up her eyes. She faced her furry lover with a plea "Beast, please, make him stop!"  
  
Beast shook off the trance he was in, and then he approached the boy and scooped him up, while he was kicking and screaming. "What do you want me to do with him?" he asked the shape shifter, confused.  
  
"I don't know… just make him stop! Drug him again or something…"  
  
Beast looked at her, misery in his eyes, he had a hard time trying to restrain the raging youth without harming him any farther. "I worry that if I stuff more drugs into his system, he'll be poisoned to death." The feral mutant stated.  
  
Mystique blinked at him, frustrated "I'll get Magneto."  
  
Beast nodded, this was the best solution, let him deal with his own mess.  
  
  
  
XxXxX-XxXxX  
  
Magneto sat in the conference room, Riptide, Azazel and Pyro beside him, giving him their scheduled report. Azazel was sifting through the events of the last weeks- earthquakes, volcano eruptions, fires, riots and other mundane news.  
  
"So that earthquake was 9.8 in the Richter scale, causing a great Tsunami wave that washed all over the west continent, I believe that ninety percent of the population at the shorelines did not survive."  
  
"Fuck the population." Pyro sighed "It is the crops fields and livestock that we should worry about. At this rate we'll run out of food before this shit of a year ends."  
  
"We do need to stock up our ships." Magneto agreed with the fire manipulator. "If we put the possibility of space traveling instead of wormhole jumping into consideration."  
  
"I'd hate regressing back to space travel." Riptide pouted "It is so primitive and time consuming, not to mention dangerous…" just thinking about being so far away from his element- wind, for such a long time gave Riptide a nasty feeling.  
"We might not have a choice." Magneto reminded him, and turned back to Azazel "What is the food situation?"  
  
"Not so good, Master." Azazel admitted with a frown. "Even if we cut off our human troops and choose to feed only the Brotherhood members, we'd still have food only for half a year."  
  
"And half a year in space travel is just a spit range." Pyro chuckled.  
  
"What a mess." Riptide pouted again.  
  
"You should not worry." Magneto placed his hands on the table. "Need I remind you? We've been through worse, and I have never failed you. I promise you we will get out of here before this Planet destroys itself. Have faith in me."  
  
"We do." Pyro played with a little spark in his hand "Just hurry up, man, we're dying here."  
  
"It is all under control." Magneto insured him; and he meant it with every fiber of his being. He was not going to let them down. He was their leader, their master and commander and he'll get them out of here alive even if he would have to lick the boots of that firebird bitch as a last resort. "You know I'll do everything in my power to keep us safe. Just stay calm and work together and we will see this thought."  
  
Azazel, Pyro and Riptide glanced at each other and at Magneto, the look in their eyes showed that they believed his every word. Yes, he was a ruthless killer, yes; he butchered his enemies and the ones who betrayed him, he was sadistic and impatient and many other things but unlike so many Omega leveled monsters out there, Magneto was true and protective and loyal. He was going to save them all, or die trying.  
  
Azazal was the oldest one in the room; he was a mere gama level mutant, with limited powers of teleportation, and he already served a few Omega monsters in his life who treated him like dirt, Magneto was the first to show him respect for the first time in his life, and so he earned his undying loyalty for as long as he's live.  
  
"Back to work, people. This meeting is adjourned." Magneto said and watched as everyone left the room. He was about to leave too, when Mystique entered, panting as if she ran all the way in.  
  
"Sir…" she bowed slightly.  
  
Magneto raised a brow, so rarely he saw the shape shifter this upset. "Yes?"  
  
"He would not eat." She said, admitting defeat. "We tried everything, Beast even tried to force feed him, but he would not eat and it has been already three days."  
  
"My, my, Beast was defeated by a skinny sixteen year old? That's a first."  
  
"I think he wants to die…" the blue woman lowered her voice and her head, as much as she hated to admit, this boy was a hurtful reminder of her own brother, her beloved telepathic twin whom she lost to drugs and suicide.  
  
"I'll take care of this. Don't you worry yourself."  
  
Mystique's yellow eyes flared up with rage at the suggestion. "Over him? Why should I? He is nothing like my Charles! My brother could not harm a fly! This one's a killer, I feel it! Get rid of him already!"  
  
Magneto did not respond to her plea, he passed her by, not showing any sign of attention, leaving the shape-shifter to her painful memories.  
  
Luckily, he came across Emma as she walked through the corridors. "Miss Frost…" He grabbed her by her elbow, pulling her to him.  
  
"Yes?" a small smirk rose on her lips. Magneto was squirming; his calm perfect posture was intact, but on the inside it was a different story altogether. She would never probe, but it was a delight to feel. "How may I help you?"  
  
"I need you to do something for me; I want you to erase the boy's memory of the last few days. I've made some mistakes, I need a fresh start."  
  
Magneto frowned as he spoke, his jaw clenched tight and his voice low. Emma's smirk got larger, and she freed herself from his hold.  
  
"You ask the impossible." She stated coldly.  
  
"Why? Are you still crippled by X's attack? You useless… Oh!" His mocking words turned into agonized moaning; as a sudden pain set his head on fire. "Stop that, sadistic hag!"  
  
Emma enjoyed watching him suffer, twisting helplessly and falling down on his knees. She bent over him to whisper in his ear "I am so touched by your concern, sir, and I am getting better every day, but as for the boy, I cannot enter his mind while your metal barrier is in my way, it goes both ways you see? You'll just have to clean your own mess this time, good luck with that."  
  
Then she continued walking, the clicks of her high heels echoing in the corridors, and only when she disappeared from sight did the pain go away.  
  
"Those goddamn Telepaths!"  
  
  
XxXxX-TBC-XxXxX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright then, hoped you liked it. Thanks for everyone who commented, favored and followed the story, you are the fuel in my engine.


	11. Mind the game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are, a new update , Yeah!  
> I know this story is no very popular and I think it might be because it is too gloomy or too demanding, or maybe, just maybe it actually sucks… lol.  
> I honestly don't know, but I'm not backing down either because I love it to death. And for those of you who still show interest in it, I'm sending all my love. Happy Holidays!

Know thyself  
  


Mind the game -(Chapter ten)

  


Magneto opened the door to his private chambers without touching the knob or even flicking his wrist towards it, his hands were rather busy charring a tray of food into the room just like a meager servant, none the less he wore a smile on his face, recalling the way Charles had always managed to reduce him into a hopeless admirer ever eager to please.  
  


The room was dark and poorly ventilated; it reeked with sweat and rotten food. He stopped at the entrance, needing time for his eyes to adjust to the darkness before he could locate the boy, not on his bed, but sitting at the corner of the room, bundled up in his filthy sheet, arms wrapped over his chest hugging himself without much comfort.  
  
Even in the shadow of the mucky room, Magneto could follow the outline of the boy's lovely face, narrow chin, lush lips, noble nose, long eyelashes, high forehead, and ivory skin, so beautiful and so young.  
  
  
"I've heard you gave Beast and Mystique a hard time, quite impressive."  
  
The parallel Charles straightened up on his seat with fear, recognized his tormentor right away and after the initial instinctive fright he struggled to regain his calm.  
  
"There are few gifted individuals that can throw Beast off balance, and seems like you are one of them…" Magneto stepped slowly into the room as he spoke, reaching the table and placing the tray on it."There are even fewer ones that can throw me off balance and turns out that you are one of them too, you see… I've never meant to lose control over my actions the way I did. It will not happen again."  
  
"Is this your sorry attempt asking my forgiveness after what you've done?"  
  
Such a simple question, with such a calm voice, Magneto felt as if his blood turned to ice as those blue intensive eyes were locked on his, boring a way through him like laser beams.  
  
Admitting anything of that kind would be a defeat, that little parallel shit, he was good, he was really good, and Magneto could not have that, will not have that, he was not going to bow out so easily this time around, so he summoned his rage and turned to the youth.  
  
"You get above yourself, boy, and the way down is long and painful. If I remember correctly it was you who came into my house, tried kill me and ended up hurting my men. You fail at your attempted to end my life and I speared you yours, which makes you mine to use as I please, I hold no account to you."  
  
Charles lips curved up into a bitter smile, then he looked away, shutting down again, losing interest in his surrounding, Magneto included.  
  
The metal plate left the table and glided slowly in the air until it landed itself at boy's side, earning none of his attention.  
  
"Eat." Magneto commanded.  
  
Charles glanced at the plate for a second, sniffing the enticing scent of a freshly cooked meal, his stomach cramped with yearning resulted by the last few days of self starvation, but Charles willed it to stop. He reached for the tray, only to push it away.  
  
Magneto narrowed his eyes with a scowl, and the tray traveled back to its place. "There's a human child I keep in a small cell downstairs with the instructions to feed her only with the same amount you take, she's been deprived of any nourishment for the last three days, so if you plan on starving yourself to death, you should know you'll have company."  
  
Charles's eyes widen with terror, he locked gaze with Magneto once more, reaching into his thoughts, only to crush against an invisible wall with much pain. A moan of pure agony escaped his lips, and blood started dripping from his nose, traveling down to his lips and chin.  
  
"I speak the truth." Magneto smiled now, walking the room to lounge himself on a nearby sofa, watching Charles as he struggled with this new information. Would he continue his hunger strike knowing he has an unwilling companion or would he give in?  
  
The boy just sat there, pressed against the wall, licking off the blood from his lips but otherwise not moving.  
  
A sense of unease crept up Magneto's spine, although he gave away no indication of it. Can he do this? Can he watch Charles wither and die in such a manner?  
  
After a long while, stretching into eternity, Charles picked up the tray and began to eat, slowly and reluctantly but eating none the less.  
  
Magneto's lips curved up into a thin smile, celebrating this small victory.  
  
Like a good, obedient boy Charles finished up the meal, cleaning his plate. When he finished he looked up to meet Magneto's gray eyes that glittered with satisfaction. "Please release the child." The telepath said. "I will raise no further difficulties in this manner."  
  
"If you wish it so…" The metal manipulator obliged.  
  
Silence fell between them again, a complete suffocating silence. Charles had never experienced stillness such as this in his entire life, because no matter how strong and high he raised his shields up, there was always a constant murmur to accompany him wherever he went. Now he had only his thoughts to keep him company, and not pleasant ones, filled up with fear, hopelessness and despair. He missed Raven so badly, she always knew how to put his mind at ease.  
  
In this strange silence, Charles took the time to study the man in front of him, his nemesis, the monster he has been trained to kill from an early age but now was sprawling at his mercy.  
  
The man was tall and slender, but his lithe form did not suggest weakness, on the contrary, his body was made of bone and muscles, strong as steel, his mind sharp as a blade, no wonder his Sensei spoke of him with such a resounding respect.  
  
Charles gazed into those silver eyes and tried to assess the situation with calm and logic, the skills that were not yet taken from him.  
  
"Do with me whatever pleases you, and it would still be pointless." He concluded "I've already won."  
  
Magneto eased himself further on the sofa smiling, amused at such bold words leaving such red blooded lips.  
  
"There is nothing you can do to force me into helping you; we will all die on this planet."  
  
Magneto breathed deeply and his smile grew into a smirk. "Have you taken your precious humans into your considerations? I will extend my generous offer- I will save them every one upon this miserable rock and never lay hands on earth in return for your cooperation."  
  
Charles gasped at this tempting offer, but forced himself to calm down again. Slowly he shook his head. "No."  
  
"Why not? Will you condemn all your helpless little humans to death only to see me killed?"  
  
"It is for the greater good." Charles explained with unease that only intensified as Magneto began to laugh. The man had such a strong vibrating laughter, it seemed as though the metal walls had trembled with his chuckles.  
  
"The greater good…indeed…" Magneto's laughter withered into a sigh. "You are X's parallel after all, with his pretentious moral sense and ludicrous god complex. Who are you to decide where the greater good lays, given such thing even exists."  
  
Charles burrowed further into his sheet, the only barrier between him and the world; hiding his face from view smearing blood into the already filthy fabric.  
  
He didn't notice Magneto's leaving his place on the couch, nor did he sense his approach until it was too late, and Magneto was hovering over him, tugging down the sheet to reveal his teary face.  
  
Charles peeked at him through his tears, to find some kind of tenderness in the cold eyes or was it just his wild imagination?  
  
"Look at me…" Magneto whispered to the weeping boy "Do I look like a monster to you?" He did not wait for an answer, and Charles could not give him one while struggling to stop his tears. "If I am one, then I am here among my kin. Do you know what was carved into the walls of the ancient temple of Apollo in Delphi? "Gnōthi seauton"…"Know thyself." The only real aim a man should aspire to achieve in his lifetime. Charles Francis Xavier, do you know what kind of a monster you are?"  
  
The boy did not answer; he just gazed at Magneto through a veil of tears and for a while there was no sound between them but the occasional hitch of a breath. After a while something in Magneto's cold eyes had soften and he turned his gaze away.  
  
"Maybe it is a kindness not to know… Maybe this is the only grace left." The metal manipulator seemed to be mumbling to himself, and while doing so, the bracelets on Charles's wrists melted away and dripped down to be absorbed at the floor.  
  
"We still have some time before this world breaks apart, weeks if we're in luck. I will not seek your help anymore, nor will I harm you in any way. From now on you'll be treated as a guest, free to do as you wish."  
  
"The Osmium… "  
  
"The Osmium barrier will remain, for the sake of my men if nothing more, not to be removed unless you are willing to help us. Other than that, you'll be safe as any of us here really is; I'll pass the word to the brotherhood as I leave. Get cleaned up, get dressed, eat some more and do as you please. If you change your mind let me know, otherwise I have no further interest in you"

XxXxX-XxXxX  
  


About 1000 years ago

 

Erik held on to the remains of his pleasure, as his arms held onto Charles with a tight, desperate embrace. He was breathing heavily, sweaty and sticky after a hot summer night of love making, at least on his part; Charles on the other hand lay quietly on his back, pale and soft body unmoving like a marble statue, blue eyes fixated on the moonlit ceiling, face not stern but also not revealing any trace of emotion.  
  


Erik sent a finger, tenderly tracing the plump shape of Charles kiss swollen lips "What's on your mind?" he whispered, trying not to take offence as Charles hand smacked his finger away as if it was an irritating fly, although he did try to mask it as a playful whim, it still hurt.  
  
Erik leaned closer instead to kiss Charles's cool cheek.  
  
"Go to sleep." Charles replied softly.  
  
Erik smiled affectionately "I cannot simply go to sleep while something is obviously bothering you, and since I'm not a telepath such as yourself, my dear, I must use words as meek as they might…"  
  
"Stop it! Just cut it out." Charles moved into a sitting position very fast and very roughly, tearing himself away from Erik's embrace.  
  
"Baby, what's wrong?" Erik asked worried, pulling himself up as well.  
  
Charles glanced at him, eyes glittering. "Stop pretending Erik, you know what's wrong, everything is wrong."  
  
"Sweetheart… " Erik sighed, sending his hands to massage Charles trembling shoulders, but even this comforting gesture was not welcomed, and Charles shook away and got up, Erik's worried gaze following him around as he picked his shirt up and then his pants, and then his shoes?  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"Getting dressed."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because it is a social convention not to appear nude in public."  
  
"Where are you going?"  
  
"Out." And then he truly got out, with a soft thud of the bedroom door.  
  
For a while, Erik just set there, confused and a bit weary but soon he had enough of sitting alone in the quit room hugging his blanket, so he got up and found his robe and slippers and trotted outside into the cloudless night.  
  
He found Charles on the stone bench in the garden; he was beautiful even among the garden roses, legs drawn to his chest, chin resting upon his knees. For a moment all Erik could do was watch, and listing to the cicadas' chirps and breathing in the air which was heavy scented with lilacs.  
  
"I had it stashed in the bushes for two weeks now." Charles said as Erik's gaze fell on the big leather bag below the bench. "It has no metal in it, not even a buckle."  
  
"Are you going somewhere?" Erik asked slowly with a low voice, unwilling to hear the answer.  
  
Charles breathed deeply and his body shivered, he must have spent the last few minutes crying. Moving his hand through his dark locks he nodded, unable to speak.  
  
"Are you coming back?"  
  
Another shake of the head, this time for a 'no'.  
  
Erik could feel the earth trembling under his feet, he had to sit down before falling down, so he took to the edge of the bench, near Charles but not nearly close enough.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"You know why."  
  
"I know I love you, I know you love me too."  
  
"Love has nothing to do with this, Erik."  
  
"So tell me what is!"  
  
"Damn it Erik! Stop! Stop pretending or better yet, stop ignoring the problem!" Charles turned to face the other man, tears streaming down his face. "I can… I can still feel them… slipping away from me, fading into nothing, my… my children…" the telepath burst into uncontrolled tears again.  
  
Erik could only grind his teeth with frustration. It was three years ago, when the humans military elite force commanded by general Striker broke into Charles's estate where he groomed and cultivated with endless love and care the next generation of mutants, just kids, and nearly killed them all, had he not return in time to drive them away.  
  
"We must carry on, love, we must stay strong and keep fighting. We have Genosha now, our new home to defend"  
  
"Genosha is blockaded, and soon to be invaded. Everything is going to happen yet again, fighting, killing, dying… and there's nothing we can do to change it, nothing at all! I… I cannot stay here and watch this happen all over again….I…I cannot do this anymore!"  
  
Erik had no choice but to get closer and hold the shivering telepath, placing a kiss on his temple with silence.  
  
"I am sorry, Erik, I can't!"  
  
"Hush now, it's ok."  
  
"No…" Charles struggled away from Erik's hug. "It is not ok, and it will never be ok!"  
  
"It is only a matter of time before we inherit the earth from those pitiful humans; their time is due, my love. We know it and they know it. The evolution driving force is unstoppable; we only need patience."  
  
"And then what? We'll start fighting among ourselves? Every new generation of mutants would rise against the previous one? An everlasting war driven by the force of evolution? When will it end? No… There must be a better way and I must find it." The young telepath got up and picked up his bag.  
  
"What are you planning to do?" Erik's heart started pounding real fast as fear took over him. Was this really happening? Is his beloved truly planning on leaving him?  
  
"A wise poet once said 'If you cannot change the situation- change yourself', and that's what I'm setting off to do."  
  
"I don't understand…"  
  
Charles took a deep breath and turned to look into his lover's eyes. "I'm a telepath, Erik, I can manipulate minds and wills, and I've been doing it successfully since I was born, but it had occurred to me recently that I've been doing it wrong."  
  
"Charles… what…?"  
  
"I've been wasting enough time and effort, the only mind worth honing and shaping is my own. I'm going to reach my full potential, Erik, I'm going to weed away any obstacle within me that holds this potential back. Once I'm done, I'll have the power to… to put this world out of its misery. Good bye, Erik, good luck."  
  
"Wait!" Erik nearly fell off the bench while getting up. With few strides he managed to catch up with Charles and grab him by the hand. "Wait just a minute, Charles! Think about what you're doing!"  
  
Charles turned to him again and gave him one of his charming smiles. "Don’t try to stop me, love, you must let go."  
  
"This is madness, Charles! Come back to bed; let's talk about it in the morning. Please?"  
  
"No." Charles's voice was tender, yet so cruel. "I've been postponing this decision for much too long, there's no turning back for me now." He started pacing away, bathed in moonlight, like a faded dream. It's been weeks now that Erik felt it, felt Charles slipping away, and no amount of kisses or lovemaking could ever draw him near again. The sense of loss was overpowering, squashing him into the ground.  
  
Erik felt tears running down his face. "Ok… all right…" He called after his lover "Do what you must, but come back to me, please say you'll come back." Without noticing, he fell on his knees, first just one, and then the other, and then the mighty Magneto was groveling right there on the gravel.  
  
Charles sighed and placed the bag on the ground than he turned and walked slowly back to him, placing a warm palm on his face to wipe those tears away "I wish I could come back, but even if I do, I'll be different, Erik, you might not recognize me anymore."  
  
"I'll always recognize you, I'll take back as whoever you'll be, just please come back."  
  
"Erik…" Charles whispered softly. "I'm ever so sorry but I'm not coming back. I can… I can erase myself from your memory if it will make it easier for you too…"  
  
"No!" Erik's one hand pulled Charles into a forceful hug while the other banged on his hip. "No, please don't!" he begged and buried his face in Charles's lap like a child. "I beg you…!"  
  
"Alright, I won't." Charles sighed and Erik's other hand joined the other on the small of his back, yet his shivering and moans had not wilted.  
  
"Look at me, Erik, look at me." The telepath commanded "What are you doing on your knees? A proud man such as yourself? A man that one day will hold such a power no one could ever match, not even me…"  
  
/ You must get stronger than this. Never let anyone hold you back, never let your love or empathy come between you and your goals./  
  
"What? What was that? Did you just touch my mind?"  
  
/My last gift to you. Go back to sleep now./  
  
Erik started crying again, but he could hardly keep his eyes open, he was so tiered. He crushed down on the garden floor, ready to doze off where he lay. "I'll never see you again, will I?" he whispered before closing his eyes.  
  
"I don't know… a different me, a different universe perhaps…" Charles mumbled and leaned down to kiss the man's teary cheek. "Good bye love."  
  
Then he picked up his bag again and disappeared into the darkness.  
  
  
XxXxX-XxXxX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last scene, I hope it was not too sappy. Well… until next time, take care!


	12. Random encounters

True to his word, Magneto left Charles to his own devises, which had some cruelty of its own.

Charles had his room cleaned; bloodstained bed sheets replaced by crisp white ones, food was delivered to him every eight hours on the dot, he slept an undisturbed sleep for as long as he wanted, and his wounds slowly began to heal, if only on the outside.

Yet nothing could soothe his sense of loneliness, his confusion and despair which only enhanced within him as the days melted into each other.

He stepped out of a shower one of those days and gazed into the mirror, to study his naked form, a teenage boy, a month short of seventeen, lightly built, dark brown hair begging for a haircut, too skinny regardless of how much he eats, pale as the walls that surrounded him, the only thing memorable about him are his ridiculously blue eyes.

He felt like he was staring at a stranger.

"Who are you?" He whispered to his reflection.

Charles Francis Xavier, son of Brian and Sharon Xavier, brother to Raven.

"Yes… but who are you?"

A telepath that lost the ability to touch other minds, a fool that followed fables away from his home, his Earth, and into this strange and dying planet, filled up with monsters that he could never hope to slay.

Not good enough, never good enough "Who are you?" he demanded now, with a raise of voice.

Professor X's parallel, for whatever that means.

"Who are you?" he screamed and punched his frustration into the mirror, which trembled and cracked beneath his fist.

I don't know!

"For fuck sake, who are you?"

I don't know! Stop asking! Stop driving me crazy! Why do push so hard? What are you trying to achieve? Answers? What will you do when you get your answers? Here is my answer! This is who I am- a creature of flesh and bones! And this is my skin! And those are my veins! And this is my blood! Are you happy now? Are you bloody happy now?

Charles woke up from his trance, realizing he was sitting on the cold white tiled flooring; holding a shaving razor blade in his hand with blooded slippery fingers. Blood dripped down from the cuts on his arms, smearing his thighs and forming a pink pool around him. He had no idea for how much time had passed.

"Bugger…" Charles breathed and tossed the razor into the bin and then he got up and stepped back into the shower again to clean up the mess. It has been eight years since his last severe episode, and now he was obviously regressing to old patterns again, probably thanks to the Osmium imprisoning his mind, pushing him back to autism.

Slowly he realized he was running out of time, in more ways than one, and as he dressed his arms with the bandages he found in a first aid kit stored at the sink counter he wondered how to use his last days of clarity. There was nothing more he wanted to do but to find out who Professor X was, and was there any shred of truth in Magneto's accusations.

He had to try, even without his telepathy; any piece of information will do to ease up his mine. He wanted to face himself in the mirror and be able to answer this simple question without flinching away, whatever hell the truth is, it surly surpass the agony of not knowing, but where should he go looking for answers?

XxXxX-XxXxX

"You may come in, just don't touch anything."

"Sorry, I was just passing by; I've never meant to bother you."

"Well, you did and you have, so you might as well come in."

Charles left his leaning point at the doorstop and ventured into the lab with hesitative steps. The lab was rather huge and impressive, filled with equipment and machines Charles had never encounter before, and had no idea what they were designed to do.

There were tables with chemistry tools on them, tubes and beakers and pipettes of all sorts, some empty, some filled with odd materials. It made him miss , his best resemblance of a home.

The blue furry mutant snarled and pushed his glasses back up, he tried to concentrate on the computer screen in front of him, and did his best to ignore the youth prowling in his territory, but he could not resist throwing a glance once in a while to see what the boy was up to.

"I said no touching!" he roared as Charles stopped in front of a whiteboard.

"It is only a marker, a tiny marker?" Charles turned an innocent gaze to the fuming blue monster.

"But it is something, isn't it? Put it back in its place!"

"Please, sir Beast, isn't it, Beast? May I just have a go at one of your equations? I'll use this empty spot here, not cocking up anything, I promise."

"Why you little shit, I said no touching!" And there he was with the blink of an eye, this growling beast, pouncing on the boy, pinning him to the wall and removing the marker from his hand. "Now get out of here! Shoo! Leave!"

Charles held his breath, mesmerized by the mutant fangs while he was screaming at him, but he did not budge.

"Why are you still here?" Beast blinked at him and tried to roar again, though it sounded more on the whine side.

"I think you might have made a mistake with this equation." Charles pointed his shaky finger at the writing on the board.

"I don't make mistakes!" Beast huffed, but he let Charles go and turned his gazed to that said equation.

"Must be just a minor misunderstanding than." Charles breathed again and even tried a smile "This has the classic Laplace boundary conditions and the right operator should be… May I please? Thank you…" the boy retrieved the marker from Beast's claws and scribbled down the solution on the board.

"Give me that!" Beast snatched the marker again and scribbled some lines of his own, mumbling to himself and humming while at it.

It took him a moment and few scruples but then he faced the boy with a disbelieving awe "How did you…?"

"I'm studding deferential equations now; in fact I have a test on the subject in two weeks time, I mean I was meant to have a test in two weeks time...Earth time that is… I have no idea if I've missed it or not."

"You're not in your Earth universe space-time anymore, but given the universe coordinates, Lorentz transformation might give us a good clue whether you've missed it or not."

"No offense but please don't bother; I don't think it matters anymore." Charles broke eye contact and focused on the floor and walls instead.

"Yes indeed…" Beast agreed and they fell into an awarded silence.

Charles rubbed his nose with his long sleeve, a thing he did every time he had nothing else to do. "Well then, off I go, sorry for disturbing you."

"Hey, hold on a second…" Beast called after the retreating parallel. "You seems like you have some brain power under that thick skull of yours."

"Really? Cheers." Charles smiled at his shoes.

"I could really use some help around here." Beast passed his gaze on the huge empty lab "All my assistants are either dead or out on the field doing damage control. Are you interested?"

"Sure why not?" Charles nodded "It is a way to pass the time like any other."

"I'll talk to Magneto, then, I'm sure he'll make no objections."

"No… no objections." Charles agreed, robbing his nose again.

"We could start tomorrow." Beast smiled sheepishly and it was hideous.

"Tomorrow then." Charles whispered his goodbye and left the lab.

XxXxX-XxXxX

With little else to do Charles kept wondering around aimlessly at the practically empty palace's halls, which resembled a metal maze more than anything else, so much he wondered if he'll bump into a random Minotaur next, but he didn't, instead he followed what seemed to be muffled screams of frustration, sounded like someone was doing her best not to fall apart.

As he entered an oddly shaped sphere like hall, he caught the weeping woman off guard, and she instinctively turned into her diamond shape. Charles could not help but stop and glare at the beautiful sight.

"Oh, it is you," She gave him a mocking smile as she turned back into her human form. "The other damaged telepath. Are you so harmless now that Magneto lets you wonder around unleashed? Pathetic, aren't we?"

She took off what seemed to be a sleek metal hamlet of her head and shook her now loose blond hair. "Useless!" She tossed the helmet away with vengeance, the metallic object crushed into a wall and bounced a couple of times on the floor, it's clanging clamored in the round room long after it laid peacefully at his feet.

"Why did you come here?" She asked much like Beast before her.

"I don't know…" He studied the helmet; it was nothing like Magneto's but it must have served some sort of a function rather than being a fashion statement.

"Did you come to gloat? To witness my weakest hour?"

"I don't know." He repeated slowly, still gazing at the helmet.

"It is hopeless!" Emma stepped down the small stage she was standing on, her high hills rousting echoes as she walked. "As I gain some of my abilities back, I know that the rest of them are lost to me, lost forever I suspect, and even with this pathetic clone of Cerebro I cannot reach them anymore! Do you understand what that means, little boy?"

she reached his face with her perfectly done nails, to stroke his cheek or to scratch it, either way he recoiled and took few steps away. "Do you?"

"I don't know." He rubbed his nose with his sleeve, and some blood found its way from the bondage to make a slightly visible smudge on it, whether she saw it or not she made no comment about it, instead she glared at him fiercely.

"What do you know, then?" The white queen asked coldly. "Did professor X talked to you about his plans for me?" and slowly she walked towards him, hovering over him with her icy eyes and he peeped at her long enough to notice her smudged mascara. "Did you happen to catch a glimpse of his thoughts?"

Charles retreated even further shaking his head "No… no… I don't know!"

"And I don't believe you, little parallel shit!" She screamed and reached for his mind, which triggered a massive feedback to crush them both on the floor.

First to recuperate was Charles and he got back on his feet and fled away, leaving the other telepath crouched down on her knees, miserable and fuming.

XxXxX-XxXxX

Stumbling, slipping on the smooth metal flooring, Charles ran through the corridors intending to find his way back to his room, a difficult task as it is was harden by his inner turmoil and loss of blood.

All of the rooms in his way hid behind closed doors but he remembered leaving his open, so unless Magneto had an automatic door- sealing mechanism he should be able to find his way back in.

There, an open room appeared at the edge of his view and he took a sharp turn to get there, nearly crushing into a wall. It was the wrong room, he realized too late, as he stumbled into it, someone was already there, a female form, lithe, long blonde hair, violet eyes, moving around with such familiar grace. No, it cannot be, he'd finally lost it. How could it possibly be?

"Raven?"

The girl had little time turning to look at him as he hurried to embrace her and both collapsed on the bed due to his charging momentum.

"Raven…" he cried out and buried his face in the crook of her neck, sniffing her comforting scent, but she struggled beneath him and tried to push him away.

"Get off me!" she growled, her voice socked with repulsion and her beautiful face distorted by loathing, but only when she started to change into that blue skinned, yellow eyed, red headed creature, did Charles realized he wasn't hallucinating. His astonishment turned rapidly into rage.

"Her form!" he cried out, how could this she-demon dare take his sister form, mocking it, disgracing it, she had no right once or ever, how could she even know?

"Why on earth would you take her form? My sister's Form! What kind of distorted mind games are you playing with me?" His hands locked on her arms shook her violently, sinking her body further into the mattress.

"It is mine to take." The shape-shifter underneath him said bluntly "It is my natural human form."

Charles was taken aback as if somebody just punched him. It took a minute to sink in, but she waited, glaring at him, smirking. "Are you saying that you are Raven's Parallel?"

"We all got ones, little telepath, nothing to go nuts about." She scoffed at him as he realized he was still hovering above her.

He let go of her arms and lifted himself up and moved to put some distance between them. With an angry whimper she rose up into a sitting position as well.

"You are my sister's parallel." Charles said, averting his gaze to the wall, placing his hands on the sides of his head, covering his ears. Too much noise, too much everything, his body began to rock back and forwarded trying to lull himself that way.

"As you are my brother's." She said after a while, looking at him with confused curiosity.

"That means…"

"Nothing, it means nothing." She got up and prepped herself to leave.

Charles glanced briefly at the bathroom direction, the door was open, a pinkish puddle flowed its way to the edge of the room, his room, yes it was his room alright.

Mystique followed his gaze into the blooded bathroom. "Did you try to kill yourself?" she asked coldly.

"Go away." He whispered.

"I'll tell Magneto, he won't be happy about it"

"Away!"

"He'd probably remove everything sharp away from your reach."

"GO AWAAAY!" Charles screamed at the wall, and rocked his body much faster. "Goawaygoawaygoawaygoaway…." He continued mumbling, acknowledging her presence no longer.

So she let herself out.

XxXxX-XxXxX

Magneto hovered down slowly and pressed on the moon surfers, raising a cloud of dry dust.

As silvery and lovely as it looked from the planet's point of view, it was actually dark, dry and barren, another reminder of the way appearance can deceive, it was a lesson Magneto had learned long time ago.

And the embodiment of that lesson stood right ahead of him, in the form of a beautiful woman, with flowing red hair, dressed in a silky yellow dress that glittered as the sun rays fell upon it, and it was so easy to forget that he was facing the most dangerous monster this multiverse has ever created.

/Hallo, Phoenix./

/Hallo Magneto./ She turned to him, a soft nod, smiling lips, inflamed eyes. /Wandering around without a space suit? How fascinating. /

/Amazing things one can do with electromagnetic fields if one can manipulate them./

/And so you have, Magneto, you're becoming a force to be reckoned with. /

/When Miss Frost sent me your message I was pretty sure that she finally lost her mind, I'm so very flattered to finally draw your attention. /

/No you're not. / The creature that used Jane Gray's form smiled knowingly. /You'd rather go unnoticed until you'll consider yourself powerful enough to face me. / The telepathic creature corrected him, smirking. /Yet unfortunately, you have something in your possession that's worth my attention. /

/I have no idea what it could possibly be. / Magneto faked an innocent expression.

/Yes you have. / Phoenix corrected him again patiently. /You have something, entrusted upon you by X. /

/Are you referring to that boy? X's parallel? That pathetic harmless thing? /

/Yes I am. /

/He's just a toy, lovely as he is; I'd thought you've passed that phase eons ago. /

/Don't play daft with me, Magneto, it doesn't suit you. Just because you know nothing better do with him, doesn't mean he wouldn't be a very useful tool at the right hands. /

/X had him and let go, had he not the right hands? /

/X had sent him here to destroy you. /

/Oh well, we both know how that worked out. /

Phoenix smiled again, her enigmatic smile /Do we? /

Magneto frowned at that smile and turned his gaze to the planet before them. A string of lava like a hot wire emerged from one surface of the oceans, pretty enormous to be seen out of space, it sent massive clouds burdened with lightning way up to the atmosphere, and the wind current were sending them towards the location of his base. /Looks like rain. /

Phoenix could have shifted the clouds into a different course if she wanted to; she could even evaporate the entire planet atmosphere if she wished it so.

There was nothing this monster couldn't do, she could split Magneto into atoms and send them flying in all directions but she chose to stand there, still, like a golden statue.

/Are you willing to cure my telepath and help me get my people to safety once I hand you the boy? / Magneto tore his gaze from the planet and fixed it upon Phoenix blazing eyes again.

/Yes. / She answered softly.

He smiled his teeth at her /Why do you even bother getting my consent? Aren't you powerful enough to get to him without it? /

/Yes. /

/So…?/

/So? / She turned the question back to him.

His smile withed away as his mind raced for the answer. She had two of the Fundamental forces at her whim- Gravity and the Weak force while he had mastered the Electromagnetic force and was pretty sure he could someday soon master the Strong force as well.

She could blow him to bits within a heartbeat but she couldn't possibly remove the osmium barrier from the boy's brain, not without causing him permanent damage.

She couldn't use her telepathy to force him to remove it either, because as for a few years now even without his helmet he could somewhat resist telepathic orders coming from the strongest telepaths, by distorting their telepathic signal for a while.

It was his upmost guarded secret, even Emma did not suspect, and it was enough to give him an edge against Phoenix, enough to tip the scales. Was he…? Was he powerful enough already?

/Clever thing, you are. / Phoenix answered his gaze. /Willing to take any chances? /

/What are you planning to do with him? / he asked, anger rising within him.

/None of your concern. /

/So how am I supposed to make a decision? /

/None of my concern. /

"Cut me some slack here, you red bitch...bird!"

/This offer stands until this planet explodes, which is not very long now so you know./

"No need to prolong anything, sweetheart!" Magneto hissed at her. "I can give you your answer right away, which is "No." if you're wondering. "Hell no." to be exact."

/Are you sure?/ she gave him an all knowing taunting gaze. /giving what's at stake?/

"Go find yourself your own toys and leave mine alone."

As hard as it was to surprise a telepath, Magneto thought he caught a fracture of puzzlement on her beautiful face, gone within a glimpse.

"You are a fool." She whispered, an undercurrent of anger filled her well toned low voice. "You're throwing away your only chance to save yourself… and your men."

Magneto acknowledged that with a pang, yet he stood his ground.

"The boy is not a plaything." She continued. "And he will kill you, make no mistake about it."

"I don't see how this is your concern."

"X found a way…" she smiled and her body began to ignite "After all those years, he found his way." She smiled, surrounded by flames. "Kill the boy if you want to live."

Magneto just frowned, as if he hadn't heard that before, and with her final advice, she vanished through the blazing fire, leaving a scorch patch of ground where she stood.

"Fuck you!" Magneto called after her. "Fuck you all!"


	13. The narrowing path

It was supposed to be a lovely sunny day of July, warm and fuzzy and cheerful, but it has been a while now since anything went like it was supposed to as a ghastly summer rain fell furiously on the grounds, forcing all the 'End of the year' ceremonies move into the common halls, and there was barely enough room to accommodate both the parents and the kids, not to mention the ruckus at every corridor and corner, which had not helped Raven fight her bleak mood in any way.  
  
She hid in plain site, the common dining hall, the only hall still functioning in its original parameters, nursing her cup of tea and gazing outside at the rows of luxurious cars parked along the entrance road, waiting for the parents and their children as they hurried across the mud-soaked grass to get inside and out of the rain.  
  
A plate was placed in front of her, and she looked up at the boy who delivered it.  
  
"What is it?" she sniffed and wrinkled her nose.  
  
"I don't know…" the boy answered as he took his seat in front of her. "Let's see… some beans, an egg, few sausages, a toast .. I'd risk it and say…a full English?"  
  
"It's revolting, chuck it." Raven pouted and shoved the plate away.  
  
"Come on, Raven, You must eat something! I haven't seen you eat since yesterday, and you've already lost six pounds in three months!" Hank could not restrain his frustration anymore and banged on the table, it earned him a glare through narrow silted eyes.  
  
Raven tried to decide if it bothered her that he actually kept an account. "I aim to leave this pathetic establishment and became a super model, don't hold me back." Her glittering eyes dared him to call her bluff.  
  
"Don't feed me bullshit; it's because of Charles." Hank murmured and adjusted his glasses.  
  
"Yes, it is." Raven slumped in her seat; it was easier to admit it than she had thought.  
  
Hank drew out a long breath and gave her a sad smile. "You know I miss him too."  
  
Raven's pout has only deepened, across from them, Charles former roommates sat with their breakfast cheery and noisy and without a care in the world. It was so easy for them to accept that ridicules cover-up story about him flying off to Darfur that she might as well pushed her luck and told them he set off to the moon.  
  
Charles was right after all, give people a thread of a mildly reasonable explanation and they will take it lying down, laziness was forever a rock to lean on.  
  
Not once has Richard, Charles's theoretical best mate, come to her asking why he did not receive e-mails, or tweets, or even a pathetic poke in his facebook page, nothing, zero amount of interest.  
  
"You're the only one." Raven sadly concluded "And you only say so to get past my knickers."  
  
"Hell no!" Hank blushed up to his ears, giving himself away.  
  
"Hell yes! Have you ever talked to him in the past three years aside from the classroom? I bet you a fiver that you never exchanged a single word with him while he was around."  
  
"Yes I did, at least ten or so…"  
  
"Bollocks."  
  
"Well I did, and I do miss him, he was one of the few boys here that did not treat me like a complete douchebag."  
  
"It kills me that no one cares." Raven whined, holding back tears "Not even Richard who's supposed to be his best chum. When I told him Charles was off to Sudan he didn't even ask for an email address, and I was ready to give him a fake one and chat with him myself, the pathetic sod."  
  
"Eat something, Raven, please… for me?"  
  
The girl returned her gaze to the plate but only shrugged. "I've got no appetite, I'm worried sick, something went wrong, Hank, something went horribly wrong and I can feel it in my gut."  
  
Hank watched her as she began to fall apart; she trembled for few seconds and then gave up and began to cry.  
  
"Fine then, let's get out of here…" he whispered and hurried to her side of the table, embraced her with steady arms and helped her to her feet."Come on, we're getting too much attention."  
  
Yes they were, and everyone in the dining room glanced at them, probably thinking they had a lovers' row.  
  
"Where are we going?" She asked, half blinded by her tears as he led her away throw the halls.  
  
"My room." He answered, helping her up a staircase.  
  
"Haven't you cleared it already?"  
  
"No… not yet, my aunt still has not answer my mail, so I suspended my flight to New York until she does, and they'd let me stay until thing gets sorted out."  
  
"Oh, I see." She tried to sound concerned, after all, who would like to spend his entire summer alone, at a deserted boarding school far away from his homeland, still this was probably a far better fate than the one Charles was probably facing.  
  
Hank's room was on the same dormitory Charles's room was but on the last level, judging from the amount of stairs he led her up through.  
  
"Here we are." Hank announced blushing as he unlocked and opened the door.  
  
His three other roommates had already cleared away their belonging and the room was left mostly bare and sad looking, his own belongings were half-way packed too, in one backpack and one small trolley on the floor, only his bed was still made and his laptop was on his desk running some programs.  
  
"Come on in, have a seat." He said while pacing towards his computer and gazing at the lines of data running up the screen.  
  
"Anywhere?" She asked looking about; all of the chairs were already taken away for maintenance except the one in front of the desk which was currently occupied.  
  
"Bed is fine." He said not bothering to look away from the screen.  
  
Raven was halfway disappointed, she suspected Hank had brought her here to try and make out and secretly she wondered how far she'd let him go, but instead it seemed that his laptop was much more attractive, and once he settled in front of it he hadn't spared her a glare.  
  
So after a while, standing there in silence she examined the sheet with great care, looking for suspicious spots she knew boys tended to leave around, but that particular star-wars sheet seemed to be clean enough so she sat on the edge of the bed and looked around.  
  
Hank was not much of an interior decorator, but he did have one poster on his wall, a poster of an elderly chap with unruly white hair, sticking up his tongue, not the playboy material.  
  
"That's great! It worked!" Hank enthusiastic cheers interrupted her efforts to recall who the man on the poster was.  
  
"What worked?"  
  
"My model of extended quantum entanglement filed."  
  
"And to that I say… huh?"  
  
Hank lastly turned in his seat to face her and gave her a puzzled look. He sat there for a good minute in quite, his blue eyes peering at her through his thick glass lenses.  
  
"Well?" Raven gave him a scolding gaze of her own after she was fed up with the awaked silence.  
  
"I have no idea how to explain it to you." He admitted, blushing.  
  
"Use small words."  
  
Another minute passed in silence and annoyance.  
  
"I'm sorry, I can't."  
  
"I'm not that stupid!"  
  
"You are not at all stupid; I just don't know how to talk science to, you know… normal people… but I can tell you what that means!" he hurried to suggest at her rapidly annoyed expression. "It means we can follow Charles to wherever he went."  
  
"Is that so!" there was no way to describe how beautifully Raven's face lit up, all brightened up with hope.  
  
Hank blushed again and pushed up his glasses. "What Charles did was to entangle himself with a different quantum state using his telepathic mind and by doing so he transported into a parallel universe. We obviously are not telepaths so we need an external entanglement field to do the same, so after you came to me and told me the whole story, and after we've been to London, I did some research and found out that the Russians had a lab, where they worked on an entanglement field; problem is that said field was of nano-scale. So I came up with this model to expand it into a human scale and it is stable! It worked!" he pointed at the running lines in his computer as if it helped her understand his point in any way.  
  
"So you say we can actually try to go after my brother and save him?"  
  
Hank swallowed, that hopeful glitter in Raven eyes, he wished he wouldn't shutter it down with his next answer. "Well… the lab is in Kazakhstan actually, in Vozrozhdeniya to be exact, and it is after all, a military closed zone, and even when we get there, will need to divert all the power of a nearby nuclear station to get the power we need in order to extent the entanglement field."  
"So…?"  
  
"So?" the boy ogled her with disbelief "Talking about mission impossible… we don't have the money or the means to enter a top security zone…"  
  
Raven smiled at him sweetly. "You forget that I can take the shape of anyone I want to, and you also forget how strong you are, and we could always use my vacation budget."  
  
"Vacation budget?"  
  
"Well, I had planes of spending the summer in Paris with a boy I met in Thailand last year, but your alternative is much more appealing."  
  
"Vozrozhdeniya or Paris… yeah I can see your point."  
  
"When do we leave?" she asked, bursting with excitement and glowing with so much hope, Hank started believing they could actually pull this crazy idea off.  
  
"Well, first I think we'll need to get to Muir Isle, Scotland."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Mr. Tanaka's home? So we could talk to him? He's the only one that can tell us where to search, after all there are an infinite number of parallel universes, you know, we could surely use some narrowing down."  
  
XxXxX-XxXxX  
  
"Have you recalibrated the…"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"And you haven't forgotten to…"  
  
"Nope, the scale is adjusted."  
  
"So we are…"  
  
"Good to go, yes indeed we are …how groovy."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"Groovy?"  
  
Charles and Beast both looked up from their respective computer screens to eye one another in confusion.  
  
"Are you not familiar with the word groovy?" Charles asked attentively but Beast sulked anyway.  
  
"Of course I am! It just has been a long while since I've heard someone using it."  
  
"Oh, shame because it's such a groovy word."  
  
"Come on…"  
  
"Could be put to use in so many unexpected groovy ways."  
"Cut it out."  
  
"Or just be left alone to its groovy magnificence."  
  
"Are you done now?"  
  
"Are you a groovy bigot?"  
  
Beast howled his misery away in such a wretched way Charles could not help but succumb to a string of chuckles, and that's how Mystique found them as she entered the lab carrying a tea tray.  
  
"Someone's in a good mood." She stated, gazing at them with a sardonic smile on her face, and to think that almost two months ago they were all ready to kill each other.  
  
Well, yeah, Charles could honestly say that the last few days did miracles to his mood, ever since he hooked up with Beast working together at the lab; it did him wonders to engage himself in something familiar, solid and reliable such as science, where he could be of use and make use of his mind instead of tearing it apart.  
  
They were working on improved probes to be sent through a wormhole in order to estimate the hospitality of the universe lying beyond, all they needed was some good weather to try them, yet good weather was hard to come by as a blistering storm had been ravishing the city for almost a week. Thinking of which, a radiant lightning flooded the room with its silvery luminance, and was tailed with a shuttering thunder that shook the palace to its core.  
  
"That was definitely an eight." Charles grimaced.  
  
"Easily a nine." Beast corrected him.  
  
"Damn it!" Mystique took such a fright she spilled the tea all over the tray.  
  
"Give me that, love." Beast relieved her of her tray and she set down next to him, trying hard not to shake, she glared at the window at the pouring rain, she always hated it, Charles remembered, even as a small child.  
  
Beast handed Charles a half spilt cup, but it was still steamy and it smelled wonderful.  
  
"Cheers." Charles whispered and concentrated on sipping his tea, nowadays he could only focuses on one thing at the time.  
  
Mystique leaned against Beast's solid body and pressed her face into his broad shoulder. "It is the end, I can feel it…" she sounded as if she was on the verge of weeping.  
  
"It's only rain, sweetheart." Beast answered tenderly and pressed his lips on her brow for a chaste kiss.  
  
"Are you crazy? Have you even been outside? Riptide and Pyro are busting their asses trying to control this madness, not to mention Magneto's fighting to keep the city's shielded for three days straight without a shut eye. This is the beginning of the end, baby… I don't want to die."  
  
Beast held her tight as she fought away tears, but for some reason he was eyeing Charles all the while.  
  
"What?" Charles lowered his gaze and placed the cup away.  
  
"We're not going to die." Beast said again, almost growling. "Worst case scenario we take off with our ships and get out of harm's way."  
  
"And go where?" she insisted.  
  
"We've been working on some new probes." Charles interrupted clearing his throat, "They are much smaller so there are more of them, twenty two, to be exact, so you have twenty two takes at finding a stable life supporting universe and escape there."  
  
"Twenty two out of infinity, what kind of a chance is that?" Mystique mocked him. "What we need is a telepath that can locate life and direct us to our next destination!"  
  
"Your next victim, you mean." Charles bitterly corrected her.  
  
The shape shifter eyed Beast as if she had no idea how to deal with this strange answer.  
  
"We view human life differently than you do." Beast tried to explain. "They are put in perspective once you get to know the grand scale of things."  
  
Charles snorted at this meager excuse for a systematic genocide.  
  
"Humans are like vermin." Mystique concluded hastily and with more than a hint of disgust. "They are everywhere in abundance and they are hideous stupid creatures and they will never ever miss a chance to kill you or each other. I have no idea why you are so attached to them."  
  
"Let's not forget he's only sixteen." Beast came to his defense.  
  
"Sixteen or not, he's a telepath or used to be, anyway, haven't you learned to despise that sorry bunch just yet?"  
  
"There is a long way to go from disliking some people to actively killing them." Charles struggled as he tried to convey his view. "No one, no matter how powerful, has the right to end another's life."  
  
"This is rich, coming from you." Mystique leered at him.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Aren't you doing this right now?" she bluntly asked. "Actively killing people?"  
  
"Raven…" Charles gasped; without his telepathy he could've not see this one coming.  
  
"Well you are, aren’t you? You'd let us all die here just because you got stuck on the idea of killing Magneto!"  
  
"Magneto is a monster that must be stopped at any cost."  
  
"Well, we are the cost, figure that."  
  
Charles eyed Beast but the blue furred mutant showed no signs of sympathy this time.  
  
"Why can't you see that?" Charles muttered his frustration "How come you're all blind to what he does? The way he treats humans? The way he enslaves them? Makes… pets out of them? Kills…"  
  
"Oh, blimey…that rubbish again." Mystique rolled her eyes at her lover.  
  
Beast shook his head sadly "As I said, he's rather young."  
  
"What?" Charles got irritated by the second by the apathetic attitude both blue mutants were presenting towards the human condition. "What am I missing here?"  
  
Another lightning filled up the room, followed by a deafening thunder, and then a resounding silence lingered in the room, where no one took the initiate to speak.  
  
"Please…" Charles was the one to break the silence at last and his voice was soaked with an honest plead. "I have to… I need to understand. I need some answers before… before I…"  
  
"Before what?" Beast asked gently, restraining another bitter response from Mystique that would lead them nowhere.  
  
"Before I'm gone." The boy admitted with a slow release of breath.  
  
"Before we're all gone." Mystique corrected him.  
  
"No… you're wrong!" the boy cried out at her "There are twenty two probes ready for you, and I've also done some calculations, giving the collected data you've got on this universe, I've identified fifty earth-like plants in this galaxy alone that might support life, so this is also a viable course of action that grants you at the least fifty percent…"  
  
"Not an acceptable risk!" his parallel sister reproached him. "Only the presence of life can confer the safety of a plant, there is no other way of narrowing down!"  
  
"What do you mean before you're gone?" asked Beast, trying to force a change of topic.  
  
Charles blushed deeply, regretting his slip of a tongue. "I will not give away a living plant, I'm sorry guys but I won't. I'll try the best to help you and I've got some more leads I want to try out but I will not hand you an occupied world to destroy, I'm so sorry."  
  
"Why would you be gone?" Beast insisted.  
  
"Whatever you do to help, Magneto will join in too, you are aware of that." Mystique concluded with a sense of accomplishment.  
  
"Honey, would you be so kind and go check on Frost? See how she'd progressed with her cerebro research?" Beast suggested with a sigh.  
"What? Why?"  
  
"Because I asked nicely?" the blue furred mutant answered with fangs bearing smile.  
  
"Because you want me out of here."  
  
"That too."  
  
"Whatever!" Mystique huffed and got on her feet; she didn't bother concealing her fume while she took an angry stride towards the exit and slammed the door behind her.  
  
Another lightning lit up the room followed by a resounding thunder and the rain got stronger, hammering down with abundance, making its claim on the city never to let go.  
  
Beast and Charles were left alone again, and the mood in the room changed to a gloomy and a broody one.  
  
"Thank you." Charles whispered at Beast before getting back to his work, his words hung up in the air as Beast resumed working too, sipping on his cup of tea.  
  
Outside the storm was raging, and underneath them the earth quaked every now and then, as it often did, but with a bit more intensity and frequency than usual.  
  
Charles became so submerged in his work he did not realize Beast had finished his tea and moved to stand behind him.  
  
"What is that?" the furry mutant asked, making Charles flinch with fright. "I don't remember instructing you to build this model of the… is this the local solar system?"  
  
"Yes it is." Charles admitted "A side project of mine. I'm trying to remodel the gravity field of this planet."  
  
"What for?"  
  
"If it comes to any good, I'll let you know."  
  
Beast frowned but didn't press on the subject, instead he took a seat next to the boy, and the approximation of the huge man definitely unnerved Charles but he tried his best to control it. Few minutes passed in silence, increasing Charles discomfort, but the feral mutant wouldn't budge.  
  
"Is there anything else I can help you with?" Charles managed to murmur at the end.  
  
"What do you mean gone?" Beast asked out of the blue. "Why would you be gone?"  
  
Charles lowered his gaze and rubbed his nose. "I'm not coming with you."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I've decided to… stay here, on this planet… until…well, whatever comes"  
  
"You cannot be serious! This is sheer suicide! Does Magneto know?"  
  
"As much as I'd like to think highly of myself, I'm sure he'll have no objections, although I'll do appreciate you not bringing it up while talking to him or to anyone else for that matter... jeez, I keep telling you things I wanted to keep to myself, my screening ability is banjaxed." Charles covered his eyes with his hands and breathed deeply. "Is there any chance of you forgetting what I've just said?"  
  
"Not likely."  
  
"Come on, what choices do I have? Let's review them, alright? I cannot go back home, not without my telepathy and I'm certainly not joining Magneto's Brotherhood because it goes against all I believe in, not to mention the fact that I tiered to kill him and you all hate me."  
  
"We don't hate you, not personally, we hate telepaths in general and Professor X in particular, indeed you are his parallel and stronger than him, but you're also young and you've done nothing yet to…"  
  
"Cheers, mate…"  
  
"But eventually you will, so we're only cautious with you for the time being."  
  
"Why do you hate telepaths? Aren't they mutants just as you?"  
  
Beast smiled sadly and took a deep breath before answering.  
  
"Mutants for sure, but a deferent breed altogether, telepaths are feared by all others, monsters among monsters. You hadn't yet seen what you are capable of doing, horrible, devastating things, and almost no one can stop you."  
  
"Professor X, my parallel, is he a monster too?"  
  
"The worst of the lot." Beast admitted shivering.  
  
"What has he done?"  
  
"Are you sure you want to know?"  
  
Charles breathed deeply again and eyed Beast nodding. "I must know."  
  
Beast smiled again. "Boy, I don't know if by obliging you I'll do more damage than good, getting ideas into your omega telepathic brain..."  
  
"Think of me as dead and gone, which is what you all want and will happen soon enough."  
  
"Charles…"  
  
"I must know!" Charles shouted desperately, tears running down his face.  
  
"If you must know, Professor X is a notorious worlds' killer, coldblooded, ruthless to both humans and mutants. He has taken upon himself to walk the narrowing path."  
  
"Narrowing path?"  
  
"A most dangerous aspiration a mutant could have, to become unique, only one other is rumored to achieve such a state, Phoenix. If he succeeds, there is no way telling what he'll do, and no one could hope to match him, not even Magneto."  
  
"Unique…"  
  
"Yes, a being that has no parallel in any dimension, quantum states or space-time, a singular existence, a unique manifestation."  
  
"We all have parallels."  
  
"Yes and our potential is divided among them, the less parallels one has, the more powerful he gets, so a unique being has limitless power."  
  
"How can someone become unique?"  
  
"Honestly, I don't know, you'll have to get rid of an infinite number of versions of yourself, probably simultaneously. Of course some would be weaker than you, but some would be much stronger… ask Phoenix this one, she might be the only one with an answer."  
  
"So Professor X sent me here to die?"  
  
"Before you'd grow up to become too much for him to handle? Yes, that's a valid possibility."  
  
"So… Magneto was right." Charles pulled his legs to his chest and hugged them like a lost child.  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"Don't be… truth needs no apologies."  
  
"If you die… X's will achieve one of his greatest accomplishments."  
  
"And if I don't?"  
  
"You might outdo his dark deeds."  
  
Not much room to maneuver, Charles lips twisted with a mock of a smile but before he could form his thoughts into words a cloud of red and black appeared in the middle of the room and Azazel's form solidified in front of them, supporting a bleeding Magneto with his arm.  
  
They both looked exhausted, drained to the point of despair, hunted by the visions of the raging disaster outside.  
  
Magneto's helmet was battered and deformed, his clothes were torn and blooded, yet his grey-green eyes were filled with determination as he gazed at Beast.  
  
"Are the probes ready?" he demanded.  
  
"Yes they are, sir."  
  
"Good." He turned to Azazel again "Get everyone onboard their ships, we need to evacuate now."  
  
"Yes, sir." Azazel nodded and disappears again leaving only smoke behind him.  
  
"This planet is lost." Magneto admitted to Beast with bitterness. "It's not safe here anymore. We take off within the hour, get the probes ready."  
  
"As you wish." Beast answered and the earth shivered again beneath them.


	14. Let go

Know thyself

 

The earth shook with more violence than ever; it actually made noise as layers of rock clashed and ground against each other, and it seemed like it was never going to stop, yet few seconds later, the floor stopped rioting underneath their feet and it didn't made sense at first because every other indication showed that the earthquake was far from over, but the air was buzzing with electricity and Charles realized Magneto had used his powers to detach the palace from the earth.

It took a heavy toll on him, he was sweating and his body was both tensed and shivering with concentration. 

"Prepare the probes for launching! Now!" Magneto commanded. 

Beast looked at his leader torn between obedience and concern "Sir, you're hurt, may I first…"

"The probes, for fuck sake! Go!"

"Yes." The blue monster lowered his eyes and turned to exit.

Charles tugged at Beast's massive arm and earned his puzzled gaze. "Let me come with you." He asked.

"Are you sure?"

"Let's go." 

They left Magneto behind, crushed under the pressure of keeping the huge metal palace above ground, and hurried upstairs to the palace's rooftop, carrying the cart of probes with them.

"Oh my god…" Charles gasped as they stepped out to the open and were greeted by the view, he ran on the slippery rooftop floor, getting soaked to the bone with rain, stopping at the banister of a better glimpse at the horrors that surrounded them.

The weather was crazy, never in his life had Charles felt so hot and cold at the same time, like coming down with the worst kind of fever, the exposed magma released insufferable heat and the rain was cold as ice. 

He looked down, the earth below was almost liquid, twisting and torquing like a boiling soup, and at some points the earth crust broke, and red lava poured out of it like a gush from a bleeding wound.

He looked up; the sky was pitch black except where lighting danced as searing white snakes. One lightning came down upon the rooftop, blazing hot, and of a second there Charles thought it was the end of him and that he was going to get fried alive, but at the last nanosecond the lightning was deviated from its course, and Charles realized Magneto probably had a protective field surrounding the palace. 

"We need to load the probes to the launchers!" Beast tore Charles from his gazing point. "Hurry up now!" they had to shout to overcome the wailing wind and rumbling thunders.

"You load the probes! I'll set the launching program!"

"Ok!" Beast sniffed at the rapidly heating air, and it tasted like sulfur.

Charles left Beast to his work and turned to find the control panel of the launching system, a lump of lava decorated the panel, sizzling and fuming, and the metal board burned under his fingers, he had to retrieve them into his mouth to cool them down before his next try.

Minutes later, as he uploaded the program and fed it its set points, the air got thicker with smoke and dust that even the rain could no longer wash away.

"Done." Beast came back from the launching station.

"Also done." Charles confirmed. "You can take the controls from inside now!"

"Of course, come on!" Beast turned to the nearest entrance back inside, but he was not followed, so he turned to look at Charles and the boy just stood there smiling. "We should get back inside!" 

"Yeah, you probably should." Charles smiled still but did not move. 

"Say what?" Beast watched him confused, but slowly his realization sank in as Charles turned his back on him and started walking towards the roof's edge.

"No!" Beast leaped to his direction, and landed in front of him, blocking his way to the edge, panting and alarmed, he only managed to roar. 

Charles moved his plastered wet hair from his eyes and tried another reassuring smile. "We've already talked about it… I'm not coming with you. Let me go."

Beast roared again and grabbed the boy by his shoulders, holding him in place. It wasn't painful, but it was effective, and Charles could not struggle himself free.

"I'm not going to become a monster like X, you have to let go!"

Beast whined his misery but refused to back down just yet.

"Let me have this one… just this one, please?" Charles gazed at the blue paws on his shoulders and then returned his bright eyes to meet Beast yellow gaze."Let go." He commanded with soft calm voice.

And Beast withdrew, watching Charles and taking a few steps sideway to clear his path. Charles breathed his relief and reached the end of the roof, and then he turned and started his descent. 

The boy found his way down, holding on to bumps and grip points; with trained and agile movements but it was still a slow, and a slippery decent which Beast watched for a while, holding his breath. A moment later someone was shouting his name, so he glanced up to see Pyro running towards him.

"Magneto's looking for you!" The fire-wilder panted, wet to the bone. "Go back to the control center, I'll take it from here!" 

Beast nodded and peered down to the last place he'd seen X's parallel, but the boy was already gone. "Thanks, I'll leave you to it."

"Find us a nice cool planet this time, will you? This one sucked." Pyro smiled and went to check the launching system.

 

XxXxX-XxXxX

In his worst nightmares Charles could never conjure this hellish fall out of events, as he jumped down and ran blindly away from the palace. The earth trembled and gaped beneath him; lightings struck down around him with a deafening sound, molten rocks scorched his feed and sulfur burned his throat, but nothing was as horrible as the death that surrounded him.

Everywhere he turned; he stumbled on bodies upon bodies, burned or buried in the mud, whole or dismembered, men, women, children, mutants, all glazed eyed and rigid limbs, frozen it their last minute of torture, and there was nothing he could do for them, nothing at all… except maybe join them, share their fate on this miserable foreign world.

He only needed to choose a proper place for it, a place with a good view of this world's end.

XxXxX-XxXxX

The moment Beast stepped into the hall of the commanding center; a massive pull drugged him forward, shoving him into Magneto's awaiting arms, powerful enough to keep the huge mutant high up in the air.

"How many?" Magneto asked while tightening his grip on Beast's neck.

"How many what, sir?"

"How many probes?" The man's cold eyes glared holes through him.

"Twenty two, sir…" Beast panted, struggling for a breath. "It was all we could manage giving… the… circumstances…"

"Don't feed me crap." Magneto hissed, glaring daggers at the miserable feral. 

'Oh please don't snap my neck…' Beast flinched while his legs dangled in the air, yet he could not read Magneto's frozen expression.

"Who else knows about this number?"

"Me… of course and X's parallel that helped me build them…" Beast answered, although confused. "And Mystique… she knows too."

Magneto let Beast down to the floor, though he had not loosened his iron grip, he forced their faces together until he could fill Beast's warm panting on his face. "Listen to me very carefully now…" he whispered."We don't have too much time here…are you listening?"

Magneto tightened his hold so much, Beast's face turned purple and he could only gulp and nod.

"Good. I want you to shut up about that number, and go find Mystique and make sure she shuts about it too."

"Sir, I don't understand…"

"Do as I say!" Magneto commanded as Riptide, Sabretooth burst into the room, looking terrified, Frost and Mystique soon followed, a puff of smoke brought Azazel into the hall as well. 

And they all gazed at Magneto, their leader, awaiting him to take charge of this chaos that surrounded them. 

"I need a moment with Frost alone." Magneto announced, his eyes still locked on Beast "The rest can wait outside…"

"Yes, sir." Beast answered for them all, and reached for Mystique's arm as they all retreated and cleared the room for the metal manipulator and his telepath.

For a while there they just stood there, staring at each other.

"I need you." Magneto was the first to break the silence, and his honesty surged through his tense whisper. "I need you to give me a sincere answer. Have you regained your full ability?"

Frost sighed heavily and shook her head. "It comes and goes, sir, I won't rely on it. I'm sorry."

Magneto adjusted his beaten helmet upon his blood stained hair as he considered her answer. After a long while he gave her a weary yet still snarky smile. "We've been through worse, the brotherhood will not succumb that easily. Broadcast my words to the rest of the ships, you can do as much, can you?"

"I surly can."

"There we go…" Magneto closed his eyes and drew a deep breath, and when he opened them, his determination burned within his silvery gaze. 

"Brothers and sisters…" He started and Emma echoed his voice to the frightened crowd gathered upon the metal ships. "We face today one of our biggest challenges yet. I will not lie to you, not now, not ever… we stand today on the knife's edge. As you well know, our greatest foe, X has attacked us few months ago and left us crippled on this dyeing planet, which is reaching its end as we speak. We were left here, blind and staggering, but we'll not succumb to fear or despair! Beast had prepared twenty one probes to guide us into a viable universe, but even if we find none, we had identified about fifty planets within their Goldilocks zone in this galaxy alone, so if worst comes to worst we'll use our ships to travel to them. So don't lose hope and never forget- we are metal! We will emerge from hellfire hardened and strong! Sisters and brothers, I ask you to put your faith in me and in each other, this would be the only way to survive this upcoming hardship, but we will, as we had before and always will!"

Magneto closed his eyes again and breathed out.

"They have listened." Emma said. "Your words gave them strength."

"Good. Now let's give them a fighting chance, call everyone back in."

Emma smiled and gave her silent order.

Once inside, Magneto caught Beast's gaze for a second with a question and received his confirming nod. "Give me visual." He said out loud.

"Visual." Beast answered and took his position at the control deck. He typed on his keyboard and the metal ceiling above them turned transparent, revealing the black sky above them.

"Communications." was Magneto's next demand.

"Is on." Beast replayed as he fed few more code lines to his station.

"Pyro, do you copy?" 

"Loud and clear, sir"

"Are you in position?" 

"Where else would I be?"

"Get ready; we'll be leaving the atmosphere in a minute."

"Yes, sir."

"Positions, everyone."

Beast, Mystique and the rest, found their seats and fastened their seatbelts because not everyone was Magneto who could anchor himself into a spaceship moving at escape velocity.

As Magneto accelerated the metal ships, the screen above them showed their carving paths through the heavy black blanket of clouds, and after few moments they all got dazzled by the light of the radiant sun, as if they spent ages in the dark.

They could see the other ships, as glistering drops of metal, shimmering beside them, metal that Magneto harvested over hundreds of years, metal that their livelihood depended upon.

"I'll open three wormholes at a time." Magneto said to Beast, he may have concealed his pain and fatigue, but he could not conceal his impatience.

"Ready when you are, sir."

"Here we go…" Magneto locked his gaze at the space above the dying planet and raised his hands in pure concentration. 

It took only few seconds before a gap in space appeared, a huge rift in the black starry fabric, and it rims glittered with silver and gold, then another one appeared and another.

"Pyro, first three probes…" Beast commanded, as Magneto was too occupied to stabilize the holes at the time.

"Three probes, lunched." answered the fire manipulator, and those probes looked like fireworks on the edge of explosion, tiny flares in space, carrying everyone's hope of survival.

"Probes in position, analyzing data…" Beast informed the anxious crowd upon the ships.

"First probe… no good, only black holes in that universe." Beast murmured "Second one… still no good, no electrons in that one… third… sorry guys, still no good, too radioactive…"

Magneto shut all the wormholes at once and panted, sweat smeared with blood washed off his face.

"Are you alright, sir?" Emma rushed to his side to support him but he shoved her away and locked his eyes on Beast. "Again." He commanded and straightened up to open three more holes.

"Probes fired." Pyro acknowledged.

Beast looked at the screen before him "First probe… torn apart, gravity's probably too weak there… the second… no good… only plasma in that universe… third one… how bizarre... it's a two dimensions plain?"

"Again." Magneto panted heavily but was refusing to take a break; he shot down the holes and immediately opened three new ones.

"Probes launched." Pyro announced.

And it was nerve racking for everyone to wait and see if they can find a way out. With every failed launch, fear and panic threatened to take over, and watching Magneto struggling did no good either, their strong fierce leader, on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion.

"Again." Magneto said weakly.

"Sir, those are the last of the twenty one probes." Beast informed him.

"I know, I can count, you see." Magneto answered "Again!"

"Launching last set…" Pyro said and his voice trembled through the communicators.

"Probes in position… analyzing data…" Beast sighed, studying the information coming from the probes in silence, since he gave up trying to explain his analysis to his already overly nervous listeners. 

Few seconds after, the big creature's posture slumped and he whined. "I'm sorry sir."

A dreadful silence filled the halls, and few sobs could be heard on the communications.

Magneto shot down the last holes and lowered himself slowly into sitting positions, wincing with pain, and took the news in with total silence.

"Alright…" he finally said after catching his breath." Beast, set a course to the nearest habitable planet."

"Sir… it's three light-years away."

"We won't make it." Riptide mumbled.

"There's not enough food." Sabretooth agreed.

"Set the course!" Magneto repeated his command, ignoring the mumbles around him.

"Yes sir." Beast said and lowered his eyes to his keyboard.

"Just a second…" Emma frost said suddenly with a shaky voice. All eyes turned to her, and she gulped and gazed at Magneto. "Let me have a go."

"Emma…" Magneto said with a soft voice "You said you couldn't do it."

"I said it comes and goes." She answered gaining confidant. "Let me try, please?"

Magneto considered for a while, wondering if he had the strength to open another portal, but was there a better idea? "Fine then…" he breathed out. "You may have a go, I'll open one more wormhole, make it count."

"I'll try my best, sir." She answered.

Magneto nodded in appreciation and focused once again, gathering his last strength to open up a rift, their last concrete hope.

Emma stared at the gape in space, shivering all over, yet determent and unyielding. She scanned it for few nerve racking moments and than a gleeful smile rose on her lips. "There! A living planet, Magneto! I can feel it! Full of humans! There's our chance!"

"Are you sure?" Magneto asked, weary, yet hopeful.

"Sure as I've never been!" She said. "Take off this stupid helmet and link to me; I'll guide you to it as we always do… hurry up now."

"Are you sure you're strong enough?" Magneto rose on his feet, hesitating still.

"I'm strong enough, goddamn! Let's get out of here!"

Magneto's smile was full of gratitude. "Dear Emma, you come through every time… I can never thank you enough… However…" he turned to look at Beast again. "I'd like to send a probe there first."

"What?" Emma halted "But you said we ran out of probs."

"Did I? My mistake. Pyro, Beast, if you please…"

"Sending the last probe now…." Pyro said.

"Analyzing data." Beast continued a moment later, and then his face turned a whiter shade of pale. "Sir, this was an anti-matter universe, it would have kill us in a brief second."

"Is that so?" Magneto smiled. "Emma, how could you do this? Such a blunt mistake…"

Emma lowered her gaze to the floor.

"It was a mistake wasn't it? Because otherwise it would be a blunt lie…" Magneto pressed onwards

Emma just bit her tongue and fisted her hands. 

"Don't tell me you wanted to send us to our death, dear Emma…but then again, you'd find it rather satisfying, won't you, X?"

Emma lifted up her eyes to meet his, taken aback, but she soon recuperated, and a sardonic smirk adorned her lips. "Well done, Magneto, spot on."

Magneto smiled back at her. "I had suspected as much for a long while now, X."

X smiled still and took a shallow bow "I should have scanned everyone a bit deeper… I see now… Beast, Mystique, yes, you placed your bet on my overconfident and you were right, my bad."

"You thought I'd never notice your taking hold of Emma?"

"Well, you do possess genius intellect after all. However, my friend, your intellect will do you no good this time. You see, love, you and your men will die, here on this planet or out in the coldness of space, either way I've achieved my goal." 

"Let Emma go!"

"Soon, very soon, I have no further use of her… or of you. Thank you so much for killing the kid I've sent your way, you were the only one who could do it."

"I have not killed him… yet."

"Oh, but you did fuck him up quite nicely, didn't you? And your osmium barrier? Brilliant! Couldn't have done better myself! He should be brain dead by now, if the earth hadn't swallowed him up just yet."

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Magneto fumed and X gave him a charming smile.

"Beast can fill you up on the details, for I am sorry but I must dash… Oh… and if you have anything important to say to Emma, you might as well be quick about it."

"No!" Magneto shouted as X left Emma's body, and she collapsed on the floor, blood running down her eyes, ears and nose.

"Emma!" Azazel and Magneto reached her at the same time; Magneto held her head and Azazel hugged her body to prevent her from bashing her limbs against the floor as she twitched and jerked without control.

"Emma…" Magneto whispered as Beast leaped forward to join them with the first aid kit. 

"I'll have it from here." He said, pulling a defibrillator out of its casing.

"I could do that!" Magneto frowned at the instrument.

"I'll tell you what you could do! You could go back down with Azazel, and find the boy before it is too late!" Beast barked at him, and for the first time in his life Magneto let it slide.

"Azazel." He turned to the red demon.

"Sir?"

"Take me back down."

XxXxX-XxXxX  
Charles found a good viewing position up one hill, outside the ruining of the village. He climbed it up, and sat on a rock, just in time to see a giant volcano grow and rise from the ground at an astonishing speed, at the edge of the horizon, towering into the clouds and spitting out red blazing magma at all directions. It was an amazing, terrifying vision; as jets of lava flew high above him, scorching the black sky. 

He was chanting a pray over and over in his mind, funny thing to do because he was never a religious person.

"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,  
I will fear no evil: For thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me…"

And then, mercifully, his brain had shut down.

XxXxX-XxXxX  
"What are you doing?" Azazal asked, struggling to breath and fighting his natural instinct to teleport away.

"I'm reaching of an Osmium signature… there's no Osmium on this planet save the amount I brought with me… fuck!" Magneto lowered his hand and took off his hamlet, throwing it on the smoky ground. "This piece of shit distracts me! Take it back to our ship."

"Sir… It's too dangerous for you to be left here alone."

"Take this fucking helmet and get the hell out of my face!"

"Sir…" Azazel obeyed, picked up the helmet and disappeared, leaving Magneto alone in his personal inferno. 

Magneto closed his eyes and raised his hand again, ignoring the mayhem around him, scanning the planet, and after a few agonizing minutes a smile appeared on his face "There you are…"

He took to flight, placing a protective field around himself to repel lighting and lava, in the darkness he converted to electromagnetic sight and followed the frail signature of osmium to its origin.

He found the boy, lying lifeless on a rock, and a cold wave of horror washed all over him as he thought he had come too late.

"No, Charles… no…!" he hurried to the limp body and bent forward. He placed his hands on that beautiful young face, clearing up sooth and sweat, and a surge of joy when through him as he realized the boy was still breathing.

"Charles, wake up… you have to wake up…" he whispered, unfamiliar moisture filled his eyes.

The boy blinked and his blue orbs opened but somehow seemed to be deprived of sight.

"Charles… Please…." Magneto begged, and then remembered, so he placed his palm gently upon the boy's head and breathed deeply in pure focus, after a short while a trickle of black-blue liquid came out of one of his nostrils, dripping down to the earth and soon after it was gone, and Charles body jerked and twisted, and his mind was thrust violently back into consciousness.

There was no way to describe the terror Charles felt as he woke up to find Magneto hovering above him. In his panic, he tried to struggle free, but the man just held him restrained and smiled.

"Hush now…" Magneto whispered, and started stroking the boy's soft hair. "Everything is alright… everything's fine."

"Get off me!" Charles screamed, tearing up against his will. "Get off me, now!"

"Go home, Charles." Magneto whispered, smiling still.

"What?" Charles ceased struggling, and just stared at the man above him.

"Go home now; the same way you got here… go on now…" Magneto rose slowly up into a sitting position and watched the landscape, where a lake of lava formed and swelled before him.

Charles sat up too, and with a sudden realization he grabbed hold of his head.

"Yes, your telepathy's back; go home."


	15. Rainbows, butterflies, white balloons and yellow bears

For a while there, Charles could only stare at Magneto, panting, trying to adjust to his new state. His brain felt dazed, dizzy actually, gliding away without control, the sensation was overwhelming, like nothing he could recall. 

When he was thirteen years old he broke his arm falling off a horse, and had it plastered for nearly four months, when they finally removed the cast, his arm felt so light and weightless like it didn't belong to him, it was floating aimlessly in the air, and he couldn't control it for a good while, he didn't mind it though, he felt so liberated.

Now the same, times ten, hounded, million.

Magneto just sat right there in front of him, bleeding, exhausted, with no helmet on his dripping wet hair. "Well, go on now." The man gave him his snarky smile. "What are you waiting for? Go home."

Charles rose on his wobbly feet and scanned their surrounding, it was hell incarnated, smoke and sulfur and pillars of fire.

"Why are you still here?" Magneto asked and at that moment Charles turned back to look at him.

Oh, hell. 

Magneto knew that look ever so well, that blue eyed, ice cold stare that froze the blood his veins every single time he was subjugated to it, heaven knows how he had survived the few times this happened before, yet he believed his chances of surviving this one were less than slim.

"I get it…" he said retreating backwards as Charles approached him, hands stretched out, determinant steps, rage filled eyes."You'd probably want to kill me first… That's understandable… acceptable even… only you'd better hurry up before…Haaa!" 

Magneto's chatter turned into pure, agonized scream, as Charles placed his hand on the man's head, diving deep into his mind, tearing it apart.

He screamed until there was no more air in his lungs, until there was nothing in his mind, but a wild frantic holler.

Seconds and eons later, for some miraculous and mysteries reason the omega telepath let him go.

Magneto fell on the hot, shivering ground like a ragdoll, curling up with pain. Charles spared him no attention, and instead placed his fingers to his template, scanning the whole planet and the space above it at the same time.

The young telepath stood still as he gathered as much information on the hopeless state of things, he studied every aspect of it with a stern expression, calculating and deliberating his options. 

"Get up." Charles finally broke his silence with a command, and when he didn’t get the respond he wanted, he turned back to look at the man sprawled beneath him. "Get up, I said!" he gave Magneto a slight kick at his side, not enough to hurt, but the man wouldn't budge.

Charles knelt beside him and tried to gain his attention with some gentle slaps on his blooded face. "The nearest silver moon is creating a gravity tide, if we move it a bit away from the planet, we'll gain a week or so… ten percent of the radius should be sufficient. Hey! Are you even listing to me?" the boy frowned and slapped Magneto some more.

"What?" Magneto panted, aching.

"White moon, push away!" 

"What? Why?"

"Just to it, for fuck sake!"

Magneto breathed deeply. "I'm sorry, I can't…" he confessed with sadness "I'm too tiered, too weak…"

"Bloody hell…" Charles murmured and placed his hands on Magneto's templates. "Can you do it now?" he asked through grind teeth.

"What are you doing?" Magneto sat up, almost in Charles's lap, he felt so refreshed and much stronger than a second ago.

"I'm taking away your pain and fatigue…" Charles struggled talking. "Do hurry up now."

Magneto lean back in Charles arms, and converted his sight to an electromagnetic one once more; the silver moon was right above them, big and menacing. Magneto raised his hand, engulfing the moon with his electromagnetic field; he had never done that before, not with an object of that magnitude, but he could feel Charles's mind, woven into his own, feeding him strength and courage, like there was nothing he couldn't do, as if that moon was just a big, white, toy balloon for a child to push away.

"That's it! Almost there!" Charles cheered him as the moon retreated in their shared vision. "Brilliant! Well done!"

Charles disconnected as soon as the task was finished, and Magneto's fatigue pounced back on him, ten folds more powerful.

Charles was exhausted just the same; he fell back to the ground, breathing heavily.

"We did it." He whispered. "Can you feel it?"

"Feel what?" Magneto groaned, the only thing he could feel was his aching bones and his pounding head.

"The earth… it stopped moving."

"Is that so?" Magneto answered and for a while they both just rested to gain some strength.

"Your telepath is dead." Charles announced few moments later.

"Oh…" was all Magneto could manage, but the surge of sorrow was not something he could hide from Charles.

"It was X's doing, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was." Again, Magneto couldn't hide the wave of sadness washing away from him.

Charles set up again, watching the lake of lava at the valley below, it was much calmer now, and the giant volcano's lava jets were reduced into a trickle.

"Here's the deal." Charles threw a side glance at Magneto. "You'll pick up the rest of the humans still living here to your ships, there are few survivors left; I've felt them, I'll find a new planet where you'll release them, along with your human minions, and you'll swear to me that you'd never destroy another living planet again."

Magneto glared at him, frowning. "What's in it for me?" 

Charles nearly laughed "What's in it for you? You old git, can't you see I'm saving your ass here? "

"It's not enough, saving your precious humans is not enough." Magneto insisted coldly. "I need something more, to ensure the long term survival of the brotherhood."

"What more do you bloody want?" Charles asked, irritated. 

"You." Magneto answered simply. "I could make use of a powerful telepath such as yourself."

"Bollocks."

"As much as I'd hate to admit it, without a telepath of your level there is no way to secure our future."

"Bugger off!"

"Do it for Beast then! For Mystique! For the others!"

"I wanna go home!"

"There's no home, you childish idiot! There's no home for you anymore! X will find you and kill you anywhere you'd go, don’t you get it? He'll wipe up any planet if it stands in his way!"

"Piss off!"

"You know I'm right!"

"Less than an hour ago you wanted me to go home!"

"Less than an hour ago I was trying to distract you from killing me!"

"You selfish bastard!"

"And was trying to get X off my tail while at it."

"You cold hearted arsehole!" Charles screamed at him and then paused and forced himself to calm down. "What made you change your mind?" he asked soon after.

"What made you change yours?" he got his question tossed back at him with a smirk.

Charles succumbed to laughter once more as he realized this was useless. "It's a deal, then." He announced, getting up. "As long as I have your word not to harm a living planet ever again… I'm calling back Azazel now."

"Do so."

XxXxX-XxXxX

 

When Charles woke up he found himself staring into glowing yellow eyes that stared right back at him, but this time he greeted the blue creature that invaded his bed with a wide joyful smile.

"Hello, Mystique."

"Hello, Charles."

"Good morning, or is it evening? Maybe an afternoon?"

"None of that, how many fingers am I holding behind my back?"

"Why?"

"How many?"

"None… two… five… six? Now that's plain cheating." The boy laughed softly as Mystique elegantly pushed herself up into a sitting position.

"You got your telepathy back."

"Yes I did." Charles answered, sitting up as well, and his smiling face turned concerned. ""It upsets you." 

"Stay out of my head!"

Charles's concern turned now into a full frown. "I don’t need to get into your head to know it bothers you."

"Stay out of my head just the same!" she got up and tried to get away, but Charles reached for her hand to stop her, or at least plead her to.

"Mystique, please… I'd never do that, not to you."

Before she could answer him, the door swung open and in came Beast carrying what seemed to be a tiny tray in his huge hands.

"Hello, hello." He pronounced himself. "Dinner, or lunch… or breakfast is served; hard to tell what time it is, in space, that is. No one has ever bothered defining time aside on a planet surface, or while distant traveling, funny thing, don't you think?"

During his mumbling he managed to arrange the table, placing the plate, the pitcher and the cutlery on the table.

"Not you too, Beast." Charles sighed.

"Stay out of his head!" Mystique warned him unnerved.

"Come on! I don't need to get into his bloody head to know he's afraid of me!"

"What makes you think I am afraid of you, then?" Beast set down at the table and asked, trying to use a calm voice as possible.

"Well, I'm no Sherlock but the way you cracked the plate, bent the fork, and nearly spilled all the water while filling up the glass, along with the fact that you will not look me in the eye, led me to that conclusion!"

Both blue mutants glared at each other but said nothing.

"Bloody hell." Charles miserably pulled his pillow into a hug and buried his face in it.

Beast and Mystique kept to their awkward silence.

"You may leave, I know you want to, and I don't need to get into your heads to know that." Charles said, his voice muffled by the pillow.

"See you later." The shape-shifter mumbled and left the room.

As the door closed, Charles couldn't help but burst into tears. He cried his heart out, never knowing if he could ever stop, surprised by the intensity of his misery and self pity, and to think that not too long ago he was so exhilarated; maybe he was losing his mind.

"Hey." Beast paw landed on his shoulder, and the boy yelped in surprise, dropping the pillow to the floor.

"I thought you were gone." Charles sniffled, blushing horribly, smearing his tears with the palms of his hands. 

"No, I stayed." Beast answered softly. "You were right, I am afraid of you." Not an easy thing for a 6'7 creature to admit.

"Sherlock after all…" Charles tried a smile.

"You must understand… it's been less than a day since X killed Emma in front of my eyes, and there was nothing I could do about it, she died in my arms. He'd kill us all, if he had his way, if Magneto was not cunning enough to..."

"I know." Charles stopped him, after all he had seen the whole thing unfold through Magneto's eyes as he scanned him, but he was not bringing this up right now.

"It is very confusing, this parallel phenomena, scientifically unavoidable but confusing none the less."

"Have you ever met a parallel of yours?" the boy asked and Beast gave him a toothy smile.

"Yes I did, and he was a nightmare, a dark, insane monster, I had to kill him or die by his hands."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Thank you, dear boy, why won't you eat?"

"I'm not X." Charles said while picking up his plate.

"I know."

"At least, not yet."

"I know."

Charles contemplated using the bent fork, but decided against it and started eating the food with his fingers.

"Have you ever met a parallel Magneto?" he asked while chewing.

"No, Magneto is extremely rare."

"Thank god for that." 

"Huh?"

"Where is he now?"

"He's in his room, resting, doctor's orders."

"I'd like to… talk with him." Charles said, gathering up his courage, although he felt much more assured now that he's got his powers back, he knew that facing Magneto would never be a simple task. 

"It could be arranged later."

"Cheers."

"Charles…"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"What for?"

"Saving us, I guess, Magneto had told me that you agreed to help us out of this mess."

"Yes, I did." The boy confirmed. "As long as my terms are met."

"We are uploading every remaining human on board as we speak; uploading animals as well, anything that is still living down there."

"Noah's ark."

"Noah's what? Who's Noah?"

"The Bible? The old Testament?"

"Doesn't ring a bell, enlighten me?"

"Maybe later."

"Well," Beast patted his own thighs and smiled awkwardly "I'd better be off; lots to do. Keep resting, you must regain your strength so we could move the hell away from here."

"Beast…" Charles called after him as he got up and reached the door. "May I let you in on a little secret?"

Beast lowered his gaze, coughing. "Yeah, sure."

"As much as it might surprise you, I don't like getting into people's heads." 

"You don't."

"I Don't." the boy admitted plainly. "It's not all rainbows and butterflies what you find there."

"I can imagine that."

"And I know that, and I also know that I'm not strong enough to withstand everything I might see there, entering a mind is a risk, a gamble, every single time, so I try to avoid it as much as I can."

"I see."

"So don't you worry about me getting into your head any time soon, and tell this to Mystique too, if you please."

"I will."

"Cheers."

"Get some rest, Charles, you'll need it."

With that Beast left the room, and closed the door behind him. 

Charles set there on his bed for a while, enjoying the comfortable silence, none like the eerie stillness that accompanied him while he had the Osmium barrier inside his skull, but the comforting serenity that had human presence humming at its background.

He decided to visit the toilets and the shower, and after that he stepped back to his room, clean and refreshed.

He scanned the room searching for ways to occupy himself, making a mental note to reinvent iPods and DVDs with Beast later on, seems like all this ship could offer him was reading.

He scanned the bookshelf near his bed and recognized none of the titles, yet at least those books were all written in English, a mystery of its own right. That would be interesting; he thought as he picked a book and headed to the couch to read it. It was a fable of some sort that oddly resembled the Mahabharata, one of his favorite literature pieces.

He sat on the couch, pouring some more water to his glass, and picking up the book again.

Odd, he could swear the book's covering was red, but now it was black.

Puzzled, he reached for his cup but found nothing, so he looked around to find it on the other side of the couch.

Am I losing my mind? He wondered and moved to the other side of the couch to grab his cup, just to find it filled with orange juice instead of water.

'What's going on?' he pondered and then he heard it in his mind, a distinctive sound of laughter, a child's laughter.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are…" he said, smiling to the empty room.

More giggles filed his mind, so he got up trying to locate their source, only to fall flap on his face with no seemingly good reason.

"Oh, you think this is funny, you little menace? See what I can do." Charles said and turned himself invisible.

A little tornado moved through the room, but Charles reached a far corner that was safe from it. After a moment the tornado withered away and there was a small toddler in the middle of the mess, sitting there and crying his little heart out.

"Shush, I'm right here! I'm right here! Don't be scared!" Charles let himself be seen again and stepped out of his hiding place. "Calm down, sweetheart…"

The small child turned to face him, tears still running down his plump cheeks. He was a mutant for sure; no human child could have such a glistering silver hair.

"Hello there, my name is Charles, what is yours?" Charles smiled at the toddler approaching him slowly with care, until he has crouched beside him.

The child followed his every move, deliberating if he should flee or not, but something in Charles smile has kept him still.

"Quicksilver." He finally answered in a low whispering voice. He was no more than three years old as far as Charles could tell.

"Nice to meet you, Quicksilver, where's your mum?"

"Gone." The boy gave him a well practiced answer in a whispering awe, even if he could not figure out what it actually meant.

"Your daddy, then?"

"Sleeping." The boy answered and then pressed his finger to his lips. "Do.Not.Destroy."

"Disturb, more likely… I think." Charles chuckled and sat right next to the kid. "Although in your case, you might have picked it up correctly."

"Book!" there was a soft breeze in the air, and then a book seemed to appear in the boy's hand.

"You are a fast one, aren’t you?" Charles chuckled again delightfully.

"Book!" Quicksilver insisted and it seemed like he was not accustomed of repeating himself.

"A book. I see…you want me to read you a story." Charles gazed into the boy's amazing huge silver eyes.

"Yes." The boy nodded his head.

"What do we have here…" Charles accepted the book from Quicksilver's tiny hands and turned some pages "Oh, I know this one! It's Winnie-the-Pooh! A wise choice indeed!" he complimented the child on his good taste. 

Before too long, Charles had a lapful of toddler, eagerly listening to his narrating.

Charles could not help patting the soft silvery hair, and sniffing its fresh fragrance, the scent of innocence. To think that only a day ago he was ready to let this baby die a gruesome death along with the rest of the brotherhood, while absolutely convinced he was performing some sort of heroic act for the greater good, made him shiver in horror. 

He prayed thanks to god for stopping him from executing that unforgivable act, and hoped Mystique will always kick his ass if he comes up with more righteous rubbish of that kind.

Few moments later a teenage girl how carried another toddler on her hip opened the door, a mutant by the green shades of her hair and skin.

"Ho, hey…" She moaned at the mess in front of her. "I'm so sorry, sir." She apologized "I'll send someone here to clean up the room."

"It's alright." Charles assured her, and Quicksilver nudged at his sleeve showing he was not pleased with the interruption,

"Pietro Maximoff, come with me at once!" the girl barked at the child. 

"No." he gave her a pout in return.

"He can stay." Charles suggested "I don't mind."

"But I do, we were about to take a bath. Mr. Pietro? "

"No," the child pouted again "Bath is boring."

"I am so talking to your father today!" the girl looked pissed, and the other toddler woke up, a black haired girl. "Come on now!"

"No." Quicksilver was less than impressed.

"That's his favorite new word." The teen sighed "I will not ask again, come with me at once, or you'll be in deep trouble!"

"No!" the boy said and with the split of a second he was gone.

"Oh, crap!" the girl moaned "Now I'll have to search the whole ship again!" the toddler in her arm giggled "Oh, you find this funny, Miss Wanda?"

"Yes." The little one squawked.

"You're just as bad as your brother! Sorry sir, I must go."

"Who's their father?" Charles asked, curious.

"The almighty Magneto of course; who else could sire such monsters?"

"Oh…"

"Good bye, sir."

"The kitchen! Try the kitchen, for the boy, I mean."

"Sure, why not." She smiled and took her leave.


	16. I'm your villain

Charles wandered around the halls of ship the next day, unable to spend more time locked up in his room.

This was an odd experience, walking aimlessly through corridors, disturbing unfamiliar people in their mysterious routine and gaining their scolding, puzzled or even frightened looks, but most of all he got ignored, which made him feel like a ghost.

Accidentally he has found his way into the labs, and for a second there he was so happy to meet Beast again in hope to be useful again, but it was short lived as he was thrown out there as a drunk out of a pub, for Beast claimed it was too early for him to get back to work.

Someone has probably complained, because the next day Pyro was assigned to accompany him and give him the grand tour, since the ground palace had shifted while leaving the atmosphere to become a spacecraft and he needed help to get his orientation back, but the fire manipulator felt less than comfortable in his company, due to the simple fact that he was X's parallel, and even a stronger telepath.

None of the Brotherhood members were thrilled to meet him either; he sadly noted as he was introduced to several of them, everywhere he turned he got the same hesitant smiles; same cold glares and the same brief handshakes.

"So…we've been to the commanding center, the engine room, the docking bay and the officers' lounge." Pyro informed him dryly as they walked the halls. "Where would you like to go next, sir?"

Charles smiled at the other teen, "I think I've seen quite enough for one day, thank you."

"Yeah." Pyro agreed with unhidden relief. "So… are we done?"

Charles let out a mental sigh; this was like St. James all over again, he was not going to make many friends here, ironically his telepathy seemed to put a distance between him and the rest of the world and he should probably learn to accept it by now.

"We are done."

"Sweet." Pyro offered him his fake smile, dull gaze and weak handshake.

/Tomorrow's Janos turn, no way he's getting out of it again/ Pyro thought as they stared at each other awkwardly. 

"One more thing, if you don’t mind." Charles said, breathing deeply.

/Crap./ "What?"

"Could you please direct me to Magneto's dormitory before you leave?"

"Sure, this way."

Pyro took him down by the elevator and left him at one of the floors. "See that guy?" he pointed at some sea creature guarding the entrance to the room. "That's Trout, he's Magneto's servant."

"Magneto has a servant?" Charles couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow, but Pyro just shrugged as the elevator doors closed before him. Well, then.

"Hello Trout," Charles mumbled as he neared the man that looked like a fish out of water.

"No pets allowed this week." the servant announced, with a surprisingly deep voice, as he noticed Charles.

"I'm no pet." The young telepath answered, blushing.

"You look like one."

"Thank you, I guess." Charles blush had deepened, under the scrutinizing gaze. "But I'm actually here to… talk to Magneto."

"Have you made an appointment?"

"Let him in!" Magneto's door opened on its own and his thundering voice gave no room for questioning.

"You may get in." Trout bowed lightly.

"Thanks again." Charles said, taking a deep breath and clenching his fists without even realizing it. His heart pounded for the world to hear as he crossed the threshold into what seemed to be a surprisingly light filled room.

Magneto's infamous and enormous bed was at the corner of the large room, with fluffy pillows, neatly folded duvet over crisp white sheets, immaculately made.

Magneto himself sat in the lounge, centered in the room, on his red velvet vintage armchair. A similar armchair was placed opposite to it, and a chess board stood between them, deprived of chess pieces.

Magneto looked as handsome as always, refreshed, clean and dressed in soft black Kashmir jumper and elegant black trousers that complimented the bronze shade of his auburn hair; his helmet was nowhere to be found.

"I can leave the door open, if it makes you feel more comfortable." Magneto said after following Charles nervous pacing in the room.

"No need, I'm fine." Charles stated and forced himself to sit down to demonstrate his claim. "Why do you have a servant?" Charles asked the first question to pop out of his mind.

Magneto smirked at the boy's bafflement. "Trout is my personal assistant, it's his own wish to be referred to as a servant, it gives him… reassurance, I suppose, you might have noticed that he's got less than an average intellect, but not all of us are perfect, and the brotherhood gives home and purpose to any mutant who wishes to join." 

"I see." Charles whispered and paused, gazing at the man in front of him, and then realizing the crucial absence. "Where is your helmet?" he asked after some hesitations. 

Magneto smirked and drank from the glass he nursed in his hand. "I trust the members of the brotherhood not to harm me. If I had to protect myself from each and every one of them, it would be counterproductive, don't you agree?"

Charles gazed at his hands as they rested upon his knees. "I agree." 

"Tea?"  


"Is that Earl grey?" Charles dared to hope as the tea poured itself from the pot to the cup.

"Yes it is." Magneto confirmed. "Your favorite?" and he smiled as Charles nodded "Some things are constant in any universe."

Charles reached for the steamy cup and brought it to his lips; he could hardly hide his pleasure as the bittersweet taste filled his mouth.

Magneto watched him for a while, drinking his own whisky in silence; he seemed to be amused for no particular reason. "So to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" he asked after watching Charles enjoying his tea.

"I don't know…." Charles shrugged "I just… I wanted to see that you are all right, and maybe have a little chat."

"I'm quite fine, thank you, as you can see and as for a chat… what would you like to chat about?" 

An awkward silence filled up the room, and Magneto's taunting gaze followed Charles as he struggled with it.

"I've met your kids." he said after few more sips, placing the cup on the chess table. "They are lovely."

"Adorable, at a safe distance."

"What happened to their mum?" Charles dared asking, but regretted the question as soon as it left his lips.

"And there I thought you had scanned me deep enough to know my entire biography." 

Charles blushed again, looking down to his feet. "No…" he whispered."I only took the information relevant to protect myself, and to decide whether to help you or not."

Magneto smirked still and lowered his glass to the table.

"I saw…" Charles continued "I saw how much you love your subordinates, how much you wanted to protect them, the length you'll go to keep them safe…" as Magneto kept his silence, Charles found himself mumbling away. "I've learned about your past, about what you been forced through as a child at Auschwitz, the loss of your parents, what that monster, Shaw has done to you, horrible, dreadful things…"

"And it all led you into helping me?" Magneto asked, his voice tinged with amusement. 

Charles swallowed and nodded.

"Well…" Magneto stretched out in his chair. "I'm so relieved; having fallen into your grace, seems like my mind rape was worthwhile after all."

All the blood drained from Charles's body, he blinked as if not sure of his hearing. "Excuse me?" he managed to blurt out. "What did you just say?"

Magneto reached for his drink again, finished it with one gulp and returned the empty glass back to the table.

"Some nerve you've got." Charles continued, his voice shivered against his will.

"Well, I guess that now we're even. More tea?"

"Even?" Charles jumped out of his seat as if bitten by a snake. "How could you possibly say that? How could you dare comparing? I did what I had to do in self defense! You…you had a choice!"

"We all make choices all the time." Magneto answered unimpressed.

"Some choices are worst than others!" Charles found himself screaming, shivering in rage.

"I make peace with my decisions, do you?"

"What kind of a vile and cruel man are you?" Charles shouted; voice full with loathing.

"Regardless, are my accusations untrue?" Magneto insisted calmly.

"Goddamn you!" Charles hissed in despair. "I should have killed you! I should kill you right now!"

To that Magneto got up from his chair as well, answering the threat with a mocking grin. "Do it, then, make that choice!"

"It's not fair!"  


"Hearing your repeated threats is becoming rather boring! Here I am, no helmet's on! What the fuck is keeping you?" Magneto grabbed Charles by his shirt and pulled him towards his body, till their faces where so close and Charles could smell the alcohol in Magneto's breath. "You spoiled little brat, all you know is to bitch about the way you were wronged! Newsflash, sweetness, we've all been wronged once or twice in our life, some more than others!" With that he shoved the boy back to his seat and hovered above him. "I thought we had a deal! Are you going to stick to it or fold?"

"Why are you…?" Charles shivered both furious and frustrated.

"I stuck to my part of the deal and accepted you to the brotherhood, now will you honor your word or let me down once again? Make the fucking choice!"

"I have no choice!" Charles twisted in his seat with fear.

"Yes you do!" Magneto banged his fist on the armrest, nearly breaking it "With the kind of power you posses you have an infinite amount of choice! So just make up your mind! Make a choice! Any choice! And stand behind it like a man!" Magneto pressed forwards as Charles tried to get away and ended up toppling the armchair and slipping to the floor, shivering.

"It's not fair! It's not fair! You've got centuries over me! I'm only seventeen!" the boy moaned in a broken voice, wallowing on the floor. "Everything I do is wrong! Everything I know is a lie! I don't know what to do! I never know what to do!"

Magneto gazed at the miserable sight in front of him, weighing his options then making up his own mind.

"Come here." He scooped the crying boy from the floor and into his arms.

Charles hardly registered being lifted up into a crushing hug; he just used Magneto's shoulder as a pillow to mop up his tears. 

"Calm down, sweetheart, just calm down." Magneto petted the boy's soft hair.

"I'm so useless, so weak," Charles whimpered still. "Even with my powers back, pathetic…"

"Not weak, never weak, just young, so very young." Magneto whispered into his ear. "Calm down now, all is right."

Magneto sat back down on his armchair, placing the whimpering boy in his lap, letting him cling to his chest in his desperate search for comfort.

Magneto stroked his back and patted his hair, waiting for him to regain control. 

"First thing you have to learn about me is that I'm a survivor." He said to the boy. "I've survived monsters beyond your worst nightmares, and as a survivor, I am not a nice man, quite the opposite actually, I'm nasty, cruel and cold, I'll always choose offense as the best defense strategy, bending the truth or disregarding it completely is not beneath me, using every weakness of the enemy, pulling every last dirty trick, I'll do it, I'll do anything to get to see the next day."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Charles asked, smothering his face into the broad, torso, enjoying its warmth and steady heartbeat.

"Because you must get to know your enemies and because X is just like me, in that aspect."

"I don't want you as my enemy." Charles hiccuped and sat himself straight. "You're far too strong, and smart… and mean."

"You don't get to choose your enemies, sweetie." 

Charles blinked, suddenly realizing his position and so he swiftly removed himself from Magneto's hold, reaching to the opposite side; where he set the armchair back up and crawled into a ball on it, hugging his legs with his arms. 

Magneto just smiled at him.

"I don’t think I've ever been this lost." Charles admitted sighing.

"All that is lost shall one day be found."

"I don't know what to do."

"It takes courage admitting such a predicament."

"Cheers, but now what?"

"I won't ask for your forgiveness."

"Obviously, since you think you've done nothing wrong."

"But I've done everything wrong. I took away something precious from you, which could never be returned."

"But you don’t want my forgiveness."

"I cannot have it, no matter what you'd convince yourself to think."

"So all is lost?"

"Not all."

Charles took a deep breath and said nothing, yet in the air of the room, something was changing, he could feel it, he could almost touch it, some tenderness entered the space between them, a supple concern, but he dared not speak of it, not to break the spell, peeking up at Magneto, Charles knew the man felt it too. 

Magneto reached for his bottle of whisky, placed on the floor near his seat, and helped himself to another glass.

His name was Erik once, or at least that was the name his parallel used to call him, while screaming his orgasms away. 214782 was the number, still tattooed on his arm after all those years. He loved playing chess, and was afraid of the ocean, at the age of five he bended all his mother's silverware and got smacked by his father for it, he hated cheese but he loved the way X looked at him once, like he held such great promise, before he fucked it up, before they both fucked it up. 

"I'm going to do for you something that no one has ever done for me." Magneto announced after finishing his drink. "I'm going to help you."

Charles gasped at the idea; he had this nagging feeling that Magneto had never bothered offering help to anyone before.

"It is a common mistake young mutants make; especially omega-leveled ones- believing that by honing their special abilities they'll survive the harsh reality outside, but they are miserably wrong. It takes a whole range of skills to survive, let alone reach my position. Leadership, strategic planning, tactical maneuvers, politics, psychology, those skills that are easily neglected, but they are crucial none the less. I'll take you under my wing, I'll teach you, guide you, help you reach your full potential."

"I don’t want to become another X."

"Very well then, so get to know him, study his every move, learn his choices by hard, so you'll never have to repeat them."

"Why are you offering me your help?"

"I don’t know." Magneto breathed, answered honestly. "I'll be taking a great risk by doing so; I'll have to put my faith in you, open myself to you, hoping you wouldn't turn on me once you're stronger… Maybe I'm looking for another chance, Charles, a chance to put things right between us; I'm tired of fighting you… X, I mean, tired of facing you as an enemy where in fact all I want to do is…" Magneto stopped, biting into his fist in frustration, struggling not to say something he's going to regret.

"No more lies?" Charles asked.

"No."

"No more deception? No more manipulations?"

"Read my mind."

"I don't want to read your mind, I want your word."

Grey eyes met blue for a moment in silence.

"You have my word." Lastly Magneto answered.

Charles let out the breath he didn't know he was holding, and Magneto helped himself to his next drink, as he raised his gaze from his glass, he could not help but gaze at Charles with a mixture of surprise and amusement.

"What are you doing?" he asked the boy, although it was pretty much clear, Charles had stood up, unbuttoning his bottom-down white shirt.

"I am making a choice." The young telepath said with a shivering voice, opening up his shirt to reveal his smooth, lean torso, and tantalizing pink nipples. "I know you like what you see; I know you crave this body…" Charles dared to meet Magneto's gaze and licked his rosy lips.

"Please stay out of my head."

"I don't have to be in your head to know." Charles licked his lips and let his eyes wander down to Magneto's obvious arousal. 

"You don’t have to let me fuck you in order to get my protection; I thought I've made it clear already that I'd help you with no strings attached." 

"Come on now… you know you want it."

Magneto sighed and left his seat, with few strides he was at Charles's side, touching the fabric of his cotton shirt, lightly brushing the soft, warm skin, and then his fingers started buttoning up the shirt again, against Charles's protesting pout.

"You are not his substitute." 

"I know." Charles said, placing his hand over Magneto's, stopping him from continuing fasting back the buttons. "I'm way better." Their eyes met again, and Magneto could not hide his smile.

"I'm a horrible man, and I'm not beneath taking advantage of you. If you'd hate yourself afterwards, it will be your own fault." 

"Granted, Erik, but you might've got it the wrong way around;" Charles whispered. "Maybe it is I taking advantage of you?"

Now Magneto plainly laughed. "You learn so fast." And then he locked their lips in a searing kiss and without breaking their connections, Magneto picked Charles up and carried him across the room to his awaiting bed.

XxXxX-XxXxX  


Magneto woke up as he felt a light feathered touch running on his left shoulder blade, like butterfly wings; it was Charles's fingers tracing the marking of his tattoo. "It's in Hebrew, isn't it? What does it mean?" he heard the boy ask, and a vision entered his mind "אלד".

"That’s one of the seventy two holy names of god." Magneto explained "Are you familiar with the Jewish Kabalah? This name, pronounced - Alad- is a talisman for victory in the battlefield and protection against evil spirits."

"Oh, my…I've never imagined you as a Mystic-man, Erik." 

He could hear the smile in Charles's voice, so he turned over to look at him. 

The boy was breathtakingly beautiful, naked skin shining with sweat and covered with love bits, semen drying on his thighs, his semen. He could hardly suppress the animalistic groan that threatened to leave his lips; his erection on the other hand, was not something he could hope to hide whatsoever.

"I've got another one, here." He pointed at his chest, just above the heart.

"I thought this was a birth mark." Charles hummed while examining the small tattoo. "But yes, that's a little angel."

"Angel of mercy, for my daughter Anya."

"I thought her name is Wanda."

"No, Anya was my eldest… long, long time ago."

"Was?"

"I lost her to a raging mob that set my house on fire; I was a young man then and had less control over my powers. I couldn't save her."

"I'm sorry for your loss." Charles sniffled and ran his hand over his teary eyes.

"Don't!" Magneto sat up, irritated. "Rise up your shields, Charles! If you let my every emotion run you over, you'd lose your mind." He cupped the boy's face in the palm of his hands forcing eye contact and searching for understanding in those bright blue eyes. "Do it! Do it now!"

"Alright, alright!" Charles pushed away Magneto's hand and took a deep breath, looking a lot calmer.

"You have to be more careful! Never pull this shit off again, you hear me?" 

"I hear you, I know, I'm sorry, I just… I want to get closer to you."

"Closer to me?" Magneto's voice trembled with emotion or desire, and his next reaction was to move on top of Charles, pushing him down to the mattress again. "Be careful what you wish for." He moaned before placing his lips upon Charles red ones, kissing him with passion, sucking on the plump soft flesh, licking and biting.

Charles let Erik's demanding tongue into his mouth, as he also let his hands spared his legs wide open, he hissed in pain as he felt the man's cock breach his entrance, it still hurt despite lubrication and very recent activity, he figured he'll need more time adjusting to such a massive cock, so he crossed his heels over Erik's back, and held firmly to his shoulder blades, as Erik thrust into him.

Erik broke the kiss, panting, and gazed at the youth sprawled beneath him. "Look at you…" he whispered, while fucking the boy's tight anus."So lovely, so pure… so mine…"

Charles couldn’t answer, as waves of pleasure washed all over his body, pain long forgotten, as Erik's cock pounded into him, knowing exactly how to igniting such a wonderful sensation, with every well aimed thrust.

"Come for me." Erik demanded, and kissed him again, taking his breath away. "Come for me now."

Those very words of permission, in that low panting voice worked like a spell, and before too long, Charles reached his orgasm, mumbling Erik's name, soiling their pressed abdomens with his hot semen, but Erik did not seemed to mind, he just kept on thrusting, so he tried to overcome his embarrassment.

Few more thrusts later, Erik joined him with an ending of his own to sprout his seed deep inside the boy's tight passage. 

Charles breathed out; his hand reached up to Magneto's nape and back stroking his sweaty hot muscles, inside of him he could still feel the man's cock twitching and oozing the last trickles of sperm.

"I'm not pulling out." Erik announced, and Charles chuckled.

"We cannot stay like this forever, you know."

"I know, but still…"

"I… kinda… have to take a piss."

Magneto roared in frustration, but released the boy from his hold. "Bathroom's that way." He pointed the direction, and smiled as he watched Charles leave the bed to stagger his way to the toilet.

By the sound of it, Charles used the shower as well, and after few minutes he reemerged, clean and dripping water, and very much aroused.

"Can we… can we have another go?" Charles mumbled, blushing.

Magneto sunk his head into the pillow with despair, damn horny teenagers and their stamina.


	17. Young and Beautiful

Charles has known he was attracted to men since he was about thirteen; part of that realization came to him in a way of elimination, since all the other boys his age in school could not shut up about girls, they talked about girls all the time, who was wearing lipstick, who got their period, and who had big enough tits to fit in a bra, and none of it has ever sparked his interest. 

Their favorite pass time was to whack off in the showers, imagining dipping their little young pricks into a wet eager cunt they saw in the latest playboy issue stolen from their older brothers; and for the life of him Charles could never understand what the fuss was all about.

Something was clearly wrong with him not to join in with the rest of them, and preferring to spend his time with his sister helping her polish her movie stars photo collection was also a blunt red warning sign.

Only at the age of fifteen he could finally identify his predicament, and call it by its name, but other than confessing to his suspiciously overexcited sister about it there was little else he could do. At that time he was fully submerged in his preparations for his upcoming battle against Magneto, that he had neither the time nor the energy to develop that aspect of his personality, he accepted the possibility of dying a virgin, but took comfort in knowing that saving the world was a much higher aspiration than finding a half decent guy willing to shove a cock up his ass.

Yet he spent the last couple of years in torture and self loathing, unwilling to come to terms with the fact that his body craved submission, that his healthy normal male body was more aroused by the thought of getting fucked rather than using his perfectly functioning organ for what it was naturally designed to do. 

Ironically, Magneto had saved his life long before they even met, because there were times he found himself on the verge of suicide, disregarding it only for the sake of his destiny. That was a secret he kept even from Raven.

But now, on his hand and knees, legs spread wide open, stuffed to the rim with a huge fat cock, never in his life he felt as powerful, he had one of the most dangerous mutants of the known multiverse at his mercy, worshipping him, lost within him, clinging to him as a drowning man, moaning and groaning and shooting ribbons of semen into him.

Charles smiled to himself, a victorious smile as Magneto collapsed on top of him, after his climax.

"Holly hell…" the man summed up their sex marathon with a moan and rolled over, to free the young telepath of his weight. They both arranged themselves lying on their backs on the mattress, and eyeing each other smiling and panting.

"Beast is at the door again." Charles informed him "They are deliberating soldering."

Erik's lips stretched into a frightening smile. "Stubborn little fuckers."

"He wants me to deliver a message to you, would you like to hear it?"

"Go ahead."

"Sir, I know you're rather busy, but you've missed your third checkup in a row, and there's also the issue of Miss. Frost funeral."

"Fuck…the funeral!" Erik's face filled up with sorrow "How could I fucking let it slip out of my mind?" 

"Well, we truly did a lot of fucking, sir." Charles tried to explain, earning himself a stern cold gaze and a spank on one of his thighs.

"Get into the shower now!"

"Yes, sir."

"Don't call me sir!" /Makes me feel like an old dirty man…/

"Yes, sir."

 

XxXxX-XxXxX

The mourners gathered at the docking bay, the only big enough hall to accommodate them all, all the brotherhood members were there, even the ones that had left the planet on a different ship, about ten hounded of them, men and women and… things, of all colors, sizes and shapes, old and young and everything in between.

Charles could spot some familiar faces among them, there was the teen girl that looked after Magneto's children, and there were Pyro and Riptide exchanging whispers in one corner, and Mystique and Azazel quietly talking at another.

It slowly sank in, that he was a part of them now; that he belonged to that group of people, lost in space, battle worn, grieving, frightened people. They were not perfect, god knows their leader was far from it, but they were his fellow mutants, brothers and sisters.

"Would you like one?" a sweet voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Say what?"

"Would you like one, sir?" A girl stood in front of him, with jet black hair and sad smiling eyes, and she offered him what seemed to be a sandy colored small seed in her open palm.

"Sure, why not." Strange as it is, he'd play along, so he reached for it and the girl giggled softly, closing her fist on it. A green light fleshed out, and before his eyes a plant grew with rapid speed, shooting stems and leafs and finally white flowers, a Madonna lily.

"There you go." She said handing him the beautiful bouquet.

"That was… amazing actually." He mumbled and she smiled at him. "Thank you."

"You're welcomed." The girl answered and moved back to the crowd offering her seeds to other members. 

Charles looked around again, and there was Beast, standing on a balcony before a window, all alone with an uncharacteristic contemplative look on his face, he was so submerged in his inner world that his sharp senses failed to register Charles's approach as he climbed the stairs to join him. 

"Hello there, penny for your thoughts?"

The sorry excuse for a joke only raised a pained smile on the blue face.

"What are you gazing at?" Charles came near the window and beheld the view; it was as awful as breathtaking. The planet they just left behind was fluttering in its last moment of life. It already shed off its atmosphere, and it was drifting away from it like a cloud of mist into space, the rock itself was fractured and three large pieces of it looked as if they were about to disengage from the main mass. The huge rivers of magma looked like bleeding veins from this altitude, and massive jets of lava were thrown high enough to look like little fountains. 

Charles scanned the planet once again to find no signs of life; they were all evacuated to the safety of the ships, Magneto has held on to his promise.

"It's always sad to see a living planet gets destroyed like that." Beast said, breaking his silence. "They are so rare."

"But you do that all the time, don't you?"

"I don't know, usually we leave before any of that start to happen, but this time everything happened so fast, we also had to take a large amount of metal, since we lost so much of it in our last dreadful battle against Apocalypse."

"45% of the inner core."

"How did you know?"

"I did the math when I tried to find a way to rearrange the gravity field of the system. It was a hopeless idea, actually, there was no way of computing a solution with the little time we had. It did buy us some time though; one of the quasi steady state solutions it offered was to push away the silver moon. It reached that solution in the nick of time, while I was down there with Magneto."

"So that's why in the midst of the mayhem I suddenly felt compelled to go to your computer and stare at the screen?"

"Oh… yes, sorry about that." Charles mumbled smiling.

"You could've asked."

"Had no time, sorry."

Beast clenched his teeth; probably holding back a nasty remark from escaping his lips, there was no way he was accepting this excuse, understanding it maybe but accepting? No way.

While viewing the dying planet before him, Charles wondered if regaining his telepathic abilities back also meant the end of the fragile friendship he somehow created with Beast and Mystique, if that so, it was utterly and totally unfair and so very frustrating almost to the point of despair. 

 

"What have you done to Magneto?" Beast's gaze left the window and fell upon the boy with laser intensity. "Did you use your telepathic charm on him?"

Totally caught off guard, Charles choked and blushed at the same time. "What do you mean? I've done nothing…"

"Don’t be coy with me, boy; I can smell him all over you. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out what you two have been doing for the last couple of days, I find this development to be very disturbing. Don't you agree? Only few days ago you were willing to let us all perish in hell for the sake of his elimination, and now… this? What kind of a distorted game are you playing? And how did you manage to get Magneto playing along? I swear to god that if you do him any harm, you'll answer to me."

"I'm not playing games." Charles answered, turning pale and finding it hard to breath "This is beyond ridiculous, how could I possibly do him any harm?" 

"You are young and beautiful, X's parallel." The fury mutant answered simply.

"Beast, please…" Charles sighed almost begging, things were so much better before he gained back his teleplay, if he loses Beast and Mystique he would not know what to do. "Please… give me a chance to prove myself to you before you condemn me on behalf of X's sins."

"Fine, just…just don't break him like X did, will you? I don't want to be the one picking up the pieces once more; I don't think I can handle it." Beast's tormented face clearly showed his effort to stay calm and not raise his voice; he shifted his gaze to the hall's entrance and breathed deeply. "Now is not the time to continue this conversation, anyway." He concluded.

And he was right, since there was a commotion at the entrance to the docking bay, and many of the brotherhood members gravitated towards there. The screens also came into life, and pictures of Emma appeared on them, she was so young and beautiful in those pictures with her radiant smile and bright, amused eyes, so full of life, it was hard to believe she was gone.

A woman on a far corner gave up a mournful yelp; she had a striking resemblance to Emma although she had red hair instead of blonde, probably a sister. Mystique held her as she wept, stroking her hair and whispering words of comfort to her ear.

And in came Magneto, tall, strong, confidant, pacing gracefully into the hall, holding the crowd with his fierce gaze. Charles never saw him wearing his battle suit before, the armor, the cape, the helmet, the boots, he was so very impressive, so reassuring, as a leader must be in times of need. 

Nothing could harm him, Charles concluded in silence, surly not a lost frightened boy such as himself. Who could Beast ever worry over such a meek, imaginary threat? Even when he tried his best he could not harm him, let alone afar joining the brotherhood and sharing his bed.

Four members of the brotherhood, paced slowly behind Magneto, carrying a metal casket before the gathering crowd, and as the casket passed by, it elicited more weeping cries from the assembled crowed that peaked in to glance at the woman within, she seemed so perfect and still as if she was only sleeping.

The walk along the docking bay was slow and grim, but the party reached its destination finally, Magneto got up the podium, and the casket was placed gently on a platform in front of the grievers.

"Sisters and brothers…" Magneto opened his speech leaning slightly to the microphone, his voice calm yet surprisingly tender. "Here before us lays Emma Frost, daughter of Winston and Hazel Frost, sister of Adrienne, Carmilla, Cordelia and Christian Frost, mother of Alex, six hundred and twenty two years old."

"So young…" passed a sigh in the crowd that caused Charles puzzlement, he never asked how old were everyone, Beast, Mystique, Magneto, and all of a sudden he felt like such a baby amidst the rest. 

Magneto turned to look at his telepath, lying in her final rest, clad in white as always, golden hair like a hallow to frame her lovely lifeless face. 

"Dear Emma." He continued "What can I say about you that would catch a glimpse of how precious you are to me? How many praises should I bestow upon you to let everyone know how important, and loyal and vital you were to me, to us, to each and every single one of your brothers and sisters. I know you were feared by some, and resented by others, but all of that was my fault and mine alone, for intrusting you with tasks and missions that isolated you from the rest of the brotherhood, and kept you apart from the rest of our small community, and being a powerful telepath that you were, must have not helped either. To that I can only ask for your forgiveness, on my behalf, and on the behalf of the brotherhood, hopelessly and late as it is, but better than none at all."

Charles found himself smiling grimly, wondering if those same words would be used at his own funeral, come time.

"You pulled through every time." Magneto continued "and you soldiered on, brave, determinant, strong. Even when I sent you alone to the mission that would become your downfall, to deal with a riot at one of our strategic storage facilities on the planet below us, which turned out to be a cruel, cynical trap, you just smiled and obeyed my command. I cannot count or recall all the times you brought us back from the blink of death to the land of the living, my faulty memory and the lack of time won’t allow that, but be assured, we owe you our lives, as simple as that."

'He won't mention X, will he?' Charles worried as the speech went on, lowering his gaze, the last thing he needed was more pointing fingers at him, for wearing X's face, if nothing else.

Thankfully, Magneto was wise enough not to visit that place; he turned his face back to the crowd, his expression solemn and honorable.

"I am not a religious person, nor a philosopher or a spiritual man. I have no conception of what lays beyond our current physical manifestation, I have no idea if we live on in our parallels or in our children, if we own what some may call "a soul" that can find its way to heaven or to the next life, yet I am also no ignorant to my heritage, and I'd like to share some of its wisdom with you, may we find some comfort within it – 

"The whole world is but a narrow bridge, a very narrow bridge, and the main thing to recall is to never fear, never fear at all.",

So fear not, dear Emma, because you have passed that narrow bridge, bravely and elegantly as you did everything in your life. May we one day meet again, on that other side."

Magneto waited for no applause as he stepped down from the podium, giving it away to the funeral organizer, a pale blue, blob-like creature that announced the next speaker would be one of Emma's sisters and then an hour interval would be granted for everyone to pass near the casket to say their last farewells, before Magneto will ship it off to the heart of the sun.

Emma's sister took Magneto's place at the podium and it took a few moments before she could control her sobs well enough to speak. 

Charles tried to focus on her eulogy, but couldn't concentrate since Magneto found his way up the stairs to his side at the balcony, and with a grand gesture for them all to see, he removed his helmet in front of the telepath, X's parallel.

/thank you. / Charles sent his silence gratitude for that vow of confidence.

Magneto did not reply; his face stern and controlled, but his mind was clouded with gloomy thoughts that Charles would not pick apart to violate his privacy.

/It was very touching… your speech./

Magneto huffed and turned to look at him, and for a second there Charles was sure he was going to be asked to shove his mind back to where it belonged, but instead there was a calm projection heading his way. /She deserved nothing less./

/You did not failed them./ Charles couldn't help commenting on the thread of thoughts following that intended projection. /You've saved them all from a deadly trap, and managed to recruit a new telepath, you didn't failed them./

/I failed Emma, worst… I failed… him./ Magneto explained, inner voice calm yet drenched in sorrow.  
Him? Professor X, that is?   
Oh, all those years, all those battles lost and won, all this pain, and he loves him still.

/I think it is best you spend tonight in your own room./

Charles gulped and nodded. /Yes, I think so too./


	18. Proper Education

Magneto plucked away the sticky sensors off his chest and pulled back his shirt on, took a deep breath and then approached Beast how was hunched on his computer, mumbling and huffing to himself.

Magneto joined him, examining his own silhouette displayed on the screen in various shades of red, yellow green and blue, pretending to make any sense out of it.

"I'm I going to die, my good doctor?" Magneto whispered in Beast's ear, while putting his hand on the huge furry shoulder.

Beast jumped in his seat, cursing, then adjusted his glasses that slipped down his nose. "No, you're not." He answered, irritated. "You are not opening wormholes anytime soon, neither."

Magneto frowned at the news. "For how long?"

"Two weeks, at best."

"Fucking wonderful." Magneto mumbled. "Nothing you can do to speed this up? Some drugs maybe? " 

"Drugs?" Beast eyed him, offended "I'm not gambling with your health, sir."

"Every day we're not leaving this universe is a gamble, have in mind that Phoenix has already discovered our current position, so did X, and god knows how many more of them fucked-up monsters. We should get on the move as soon as possible."

"Jumping from one universe to another has its disadvantage too; you know, will we ever get to settle down? Built a proper power base, a solid stronghold?"

"When I'm strong enough." Magneto answered frowning.

"You are strong enough, sir."

"Let me be the judge of that, my good doctor."

"I've seen you fight Apocalypse, Mastermind, X, hell, even Thanos… and you survived them all. You are strong enough!" the blue mutant insisted.

Magneto smirked at this. "I'm flattered, my friend, your faith in me is ever so endearing but if we are to settle down somewhere, I must do more than just survive those monsters, I'll have to defeat them. I'm not yet strong enough." 

"If you say so, sir, I have no right to push you beyond your limits…" Beast sighed, lowering his voice to almost a mumble "it's just… Mystique and I were thinking about having children, you know… and we wish we had a stable home to raise them in, with a sky over their heads and dirt under their feet, if you get what I mean."

"I've got kids too."

"I know… just, wandering around from one universe to another, from one planet to the next… it is getting a bit tiring that's all, and I've been thinking, since we have Charles now, we have a far better chance at settling down."

"What Charles got to do with this?" Magneto frowned again.

"Well, you've seen his brain scans that I took when we first captured him, he's the strongest telepath I've ever came across. He's our best asset aside from you, sir."

"He's a bird in a bush."

"He's one of us."

"For the time being yes… look, I don't know for how long our deal will hold, I don't know if he'd even take the eternal life with all its costs, and even then, when he's an A-list monster, he'll probably move on, you know us omega-level mutants, we don’t tend to flock. "

"I know sir." Beast breathed, knowing all too well that Magneto's strange willingness to protect even the weakest mutants of the brotherhood was its own kind of a miracle. "Can't blame me for hoping though…"

 

Magneto nodded and tried his horrifying version of a smile patting Beast on his shoulder "Come on, it is getting rather early. Let's review the plans you've made for Charles's education and then go grab some breakfast."

"All right." Beast agreed. "But I warn you, I have a strict schedule for him, and I plan to give him hell. The last thing we need is another X, so don’t go soft on the boy."

"Oh, my good doctor, I don't recall ever going soft on that boy." 

 

XxXxX-XxXxX

 

/Good morning, sleepyhead./

/Morning, Mystique. Don't you find it rather creepy?/

/Find what creepy?/

/Sneaking into my bed while I'm sleeping? You must have done this at least three times that I can recall, a fully-grown woman in a teenager's bed, creepy./

Yellow and blue eyes glared at each other, and then the blue shape shifter smirked. /I used to do sneak into my brother's bed all the time. / She admitted, stretching her long limbs on the mattress, feeling ever so comfortable.

/But I'm not your brother, am I? /. 

/I know, but you do remind me of him, especially when you sleep. You look so harmless and innocence and ever so sweet, just like him./

/Nice to know, now get lost./

/Oh, don't you be so cruel…Won't you indulge me just this little bit? The same way you indulged Magneto?/

Charles frowned and sat up on the mattress, what happened with Magneto was a mistake never to be repeated, and luckily Magneto has also recognized it as such, but he had neither the energy nor the desire to explain this to Mystique.

Her next thought sent raging shivers down his spine, like someone just poured a bucket full of ice over his head, and then he remembered how easy it is for him to fry brain synapse, just like X did to Emma.

/Get out/

She laughed softly, taking pleasure in his annoyance.

/Would you go away already?/

/As you wish/ she laughed still but got up on her feet and moved to the door, with lazy, fluid motions. /See you later./

 

XxXxX-XxXxX

Nothing like those few thoughts exchanged with Mystique to set him up with a full pissed off mode for the rest of the day. How could she taunt him like this? Suggesting that he was Magneto's whore? She had no right to pass a judgment. 

Who else had got that toss idea into his head? Maybe Beast and Pyro that had waited at the other side of that door? Oh, hell… what if this was his fault? What if he'd project his orgasms away? That's that! He's going to wipe out everyone's memory of the last few days… no, calm down, take some deep breaths, nobody's going to wipe out no one else's memory anytime soon, just as Magneto said, he must make peace with his own decisions, and he surly made that bed and now he had to lay in it.

Getting into the common dining hall was the hardest thing he's ever done in his life, even worse than that Monday's breakfast in St. James after the fiasco of the Hodgson's party, when he had to face Rebecca, Patrick and the rest of the lot while pretending that nothing in particular had ever happened.

At least he had Raven there, but now, after placing some scrambled eggs, cheese toast and tea on his tray, he had no idea where he should place himself, there was only one table with familiar faces next to it, yet Magneto was one of them.

"Here, Charles." Did the man just waved at him? With a sadistic smile smeared on his face. Now ain't that lovely? "Come sit with us, sport."

Go on, yeah, this is just supper great.

And "us" meant Beast, Riptide, the wild long haired brute, Charles couldn't recall by name, charming young Pyro and of course the metal-manipulator himself.

Charles let out a long sigh and obliged Magneto's request, bordering command.

He found his seat between Beast and Magneto, while the long haired bloke set opposite to him, glared and growled, good god, those fangs looked kind of sharp.

"Morning." Beast greeted him, unwilling but polite.

"Morning." Charles returned the favor and stuck his fork in his food, a good excuse to avoid eye contact, and for a while there it worked, as no one bothered talking to him, each concentrated on his own plate, was Magneto even allowed to eat bacon? 

"Good morning." Two more people joined the already crowded table, squashing the brute away from Charles direct line of sight.

The one that spoke with the heavy Russian accent, he already recognized as Azazel, but the younger blue mutant next to him looked oddly enough like a mixture of the red teleporter and Mystique.

"Nightcrawler." The young mutant introduced himself with a heavy German accent.

"Charles, nice to meet you."

"As such."

/Are you Azazel's son by any chance?/

/Are you in my head?/

/Sorry… a telepath./

"Actually I am Azazel's parallel son. You see, in my universe Mystique and Azazel had a child." The blue creature said out loud, taking everyone by surprise, causing Charles to blush and Azazel to choke on his food.

"Not our Mystique." Beast hurried to clear things out.

"And not me, neither." Azazel laughed.

Charles struggled to process the information. "So… in a way… I'm your… uncle of some sort?"

"Let it go."Beast smirked at him "Parallel universes are too complicated to understand as it is."

"And eventually… everybody is everyone else's mother…" Magneto added in a dry voice and Charles had no idea whether he was kidding or not.

"Safe to say that we are all brotherhood members here." Nightcrawler concluded, he had a gentle smile on his lips that Charles warmly appreciated.

"And speaking of brotherhood members… each has a duty to perform, and breakfast only lasts half an hour." Magneto said, eyeing Pyro while doing so.

"We just got here, sir." Pyro objected, laying down his glass.

"No, you got here ten minutes before we did, which means your ass has spent here five minutes more than it should." Magneto answered, smirking.

Pyro got up with his tray and Riptide soon followed. "That's it! I'm never eating with the big boss again." he said to Janos and earned a sympathetic smile from the man.

"We should get going as well, sir." Beast said to Magneto. "We're needed at the engine room."

"I know my schedule, Beast, thank you." Magneto answered. "But before we go, we should brief Charles on his, don’t you think?"

"There you go." Beast shoved his hand into a bag lying besides his feet and drew a paper sheet out of it, to place it in front of the boy.

"What is this?" the young telepath queried.

"Your Weekly schedule, we all got them." Beast answered. "The brotherhood runs as a military base, we all got our duties and assignments here, or else everything will succumb to chaos. So those are yours, it takes into account your abilities, interests and training needs. You'll study three days a week, and work on the rest. We have three half- an- hour breaks for dinners, and eight hours a day to our personal needs."

"We also got five hours off, every other Thursday, tell him the nice parts too, beast." Magneto insisted.

"This is murder." Charles mumbled as he scanned his task list. "Lab duty, physical training… two hours of… babysitting the twins??"

"What can I say? Quicksilver likes you." Magneto shrugged.

"We should get going." Beast said getting up.

"Yes, we should. Have a nice day, Charles, see you after dinner."

"Why should I see you after dinner?" Charles mumbled in resentment.

"Strategic planning 101- look it up"

Charles looked it up and his face darkened even more.

"Have a nice day, sport." Magneto repeated and then both Beast and he took off.

"First class- physical training with one … Sabretooth..." Charles read out lowed and gazed up with a reckoning.

"Hello, bud." The long haired monster grinned back at him.

Yes. Peaches and cream.

XxXxX-XxXxX

"So how was your day?" Magneto asked when Charles took few hesitative steps into his dormitories. The first thing Charles noted was that the inner arraignment of the dormitory had changed, the bed was no longer in plain sight but was placed now in a separated room, and the drawing room took a much larger space than he remembered, with a chess board as a center piece.

"My day? A bit rough, yet educational, thank you."

"I see." Magneto smiled, and he did notice the blue bruises sprouting on the boy's milky skin and his split lower lip, red with a fresh wound, as if it needed a touch more of vibrant rosy color.

"And how was dinner? Satisfying? Did you eat your fill?"

"I think so…why?"

"You're too skinny; I'll have your caloric ration extend for the next few weeks until you regain your proper weight."

"Cheers?"

"Don't dismiss it; your health is a priority of the brotherhood."

"And there I thought I had you concerned."

"As the leader of the brotherhood, yes, I am concerned, but enough of that, have a seat, please. Are you ready for your next class?"

"Strategic planning 101… whatever that means." Charles answered, still scanning the room, which was full of books, neatly organized on shelves and bookcases. There was no alcohol bar as it was on the last time he stepped into the room, no sofas either, and the lavishing armchairs were replaced with modern and plain chairs, the place would be fitting a monk. 

"Join me, please sit down." Magneto smiled and pulled one of the chairs in front of the chess board. "Would you like me to call Trout in for some tea?"

Charles frowned at the idea. "No, no need, I'm good." He settled down in front of the chess table and watched Magneto take the opposite position.

"So… Strategic planning seems interesting enough." 

"Strategy, yes, very important too, for one's survival. What does the word 'strategy' means to you?"

Charles shrugged "A plan of action, to achieve one's goal, I guess." He quoted the dictionary definition.

"Well articulated, you are a bright young thing, are you?"

Charles shrugged, he was only relying on his telepathic ability to access every bit of information once randomly stored in his brain, not such a big deal. "If you say so."

"Our goal here is for you to develop a strategic mindset; our plan of action is a chess game."

"A chess game?"

"Indeed, it is a wonderful tool. My father once told me a child should learn three things before he reaches adulthood- manners, mathematics and chess."

"A wise man."

"Not wise enough to leave Germany in time, but still… introduced me to chess when I was five year old. Do you know how to play?"

"Yes, my Sensei thought me the rules, but to be honest, I never took the trouble to sharpen my skills, there were always more pressing matters to handle."

"That's unfortunate, but easily remedied. We will play three times a week. Once you beat me three times in a row, you would pass the course. No cheating, as you can see, the pieces are all made of plastic, and I'll wear my hamlet while we play."

The helmet laid on the floor, ready to be used as necessary, but Magneto actually made a point not to wear it at all times.

Charles smiled, squirming on his chair; he was not the kind to cheat. "That would be unnecessary…"

"Oh…But it is, giving into temptation is not beyond anyone." Magneto answered and his voice sunk low and turned contemplative.

Lust. Regret. Sadness. Irony.

Charles shook his head and raised his shields a notch higher. "Alright… shell we begin?"

"Of course, but before we do… indulge me this- imagine that the white set is the brotherhood, and you are one of the pieces. Which one are you?"

Charles could not help raising an eyebrow "Which chess piece am I?"

Magneto smiled "They all got their advantages and weaknesses, which one are you?"

"Fine then." Charles picked up a piece and Magneto's smile turned into a frown.

"That's being extremely humble… a pawn?"

"I'm I not? I've been played like a tool all my life, manipulated, lied too, placed here by X as a lamb at the slaughterhouse, now I'm at your mercy… yours to… use."

"A pawn? Really? Epsilon leveled mutants are pawns; humans are pawns, but you?"  
"Humans are not your pawns." Charles resented. "On our next stop, you had promised to let them go!"

"And I will."

"Pets included."

"We've talked about my minions…"

"Pets included." Charles insisted, blushing. "Why would a handsome, strong man such as you need pets anyway? You can have your pick at every young woman or man here, trust me- I'm a telepath, I know."

"I have...dark needs and… I will not inflict my moods… or desires on an innocent brother or sister, nor will I abuse my authority over them."

"But humans are all fine?"

"Humans deserve every bit of suffering I can inflict upon them! But I'll have you know that I've always handled my pets with restraints! In most..."

"In most."

"You're not a pawn, pick another piece."

Charles smiled again, hardly concealing his frustration "I'm not a pawn, you say… so… how about… this little chap here?"

"A knight."

"A knight."

"Well, we're warming up now, why this one?"

"Guess that I'm a naïve lost knight, seeking to lead a gallant life and defeat evil dragons, only to find out that I'm an idiotic child fighting a windmill."

"Poetic, I guess. Most telepath are truly knights, they move in unpredictable ways and tend to be very dangerous, silent and prowling without notice, leaping into the battle in the most unexpected ways."

"So that's it then, I'm a knight!"

"No… not you. Pick another."

Charles breathed deeply, rolling his eyes."Fine! Here! Are you happy now?"

"Why a rook?" Magneto could not hide his detest as his eyes and lips flinched.

"Have no idea. You obviously want me to pick up a strong piece and rooks are as strong as they get, so there we go."

"Rooks are rigid, massive and brutal, with not an ounce of imagination. Pick another. Am I pissing you off?"

"Yeah, I think you should just tell me what my choice is, to save us both the trouble, the one you had in mind to begin with."

"The one I have in mind?"

"That one."

"But then it would not be your chose."

"My choice is the pawn, my friend, and I would not change my mine so easily." 

"A pawn can be promoted."

"Yeah… and the odds of that would be…."

"Pick up your piece."

"Fine!" Charles picked up the little object and waved it in front of the brotherhood's leader, his blue eyes locked upon Erik's with an unspoken daring. "Satisfied?"

"The King." Magneto smiled and relaxed in his chair.

"The king. Why am I the king? This game's so confusing, where else would a king be even more pathetic than his pawns?"

"You have a wrong conception of the game if this is your conclusion."

"It can hardly move, and it is so easily threatened."

"It is the motivator and the manipulator of all the other tools on the board, enemy and friendly alike, its qualities shine at the endgame, and it never actually dies. You are the most valuable member of our brotherhood, Charles and the sooner you realize it, the better."

Charles lowered his eyes and licked his wounded lip. "It cannot be…"

"It is what it is."

"It makes no sense."

"Why not?"

"Why would X hand you a king?"

Charles raised his blue eyes to meet Erik's again, so beautiful, when will he learn to use his enchanting gaze as a weapon? It would be a glorious and formidable day. 

"Oh… that's wonderful question, Charles, I'm so very proud of you. Two possible answers, as far as I know, One- he did not recognize you as a king."

"Improbable."

"Two- he did recognize you as a king and sent you here to destroy me."

"I'm not his king." The boy resented the implication.

"But are you mine?" Erik whispered, and though Charles raised his shields as high as he knew how, something still slipped into his mind, some tension; he could taste it like electricity in the air. 

Charles smiled at this hopeless mess, running a hand through his soft hair, seeking a way to dismiss it. "Are you my queen, then? Let's just… let's just play."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I a chess geek or what?


	19. Time and again

<(Point 0)>

The gatherers at the docking bay held their breath, as Magneto and Charles stepped down the stairs, and for a second there, glancing through some of the assembled eyes Charles could picture themselves as some sort of royalty, greeted by their subjects at their coronation ceremony, or something alike, but maybe this was a coronation after all, because Charles was taking the white queen's place at Magneto's side to open up the wormhole.

/I have no idea what to do/ Charles admitted to Erik while they were both smiling and waving to the crowd.

/I open a wormhole, you find out if it's safe by searching for life. You guide me out to the suitable planet and I manipulate the worm tunnel to get us there. Easy as pie/

/Cheerio/

/Nervous?/

/What gave me away?/

/Trust your intuition/

/Would be easier if there was no audience following my every move/

/Once reaching a cretin position, it is unavoidable. Here we go/

Magneto raised his hand slowly, aiming into the dark vast emptiness of space, as it loomed upon them just on the outside of the docking bay's window. For a second there, his stern focus seemed out of place, but then- a glimmer, a tiny silver quiver opening up against the blanked vapidity, growing up into a beautiful bubble of light and promise.

There was life on the seventh one.

/Guide me to it. Take my hand/

Charles nodded and reached for the offered hand, and they laced their fingers, as well as their minds.

The bubble changed colors and shapes, as they sifted through the new universe before them, until a deep green-blue planet lay before them, crowned with the silvery halo of the wormhole.

The crowd cheered with relief and joy at the prospect of their new home.

"Set the controls, Beast." Magneto said out loud, still holding on to Charles hand.

"Yes sir."

 

     **XxXxX-XxXxX**

<(Point 0+one week)>

Gaia, was the name of the mutant girl that offered him a Madonna lily at Emma's funeral, a scrawny little thing that no one would spare a second glance at, and her powers? Seemed to him so obscure at the time, useless in battle, unnoticeable at best, but then Magneto took Charles' king with a pawn and scolded him for not paying attention to the smallest details.

And there she was on this new home they have just made, growing vast fields of wheat and corn and other crops, with the blink of an eye, enough to feed the brotherhood for a year, along with the humans they brought along, and suddenly he realized that she was the only person in the brotherhood of hundreds that stood between them and that horrible death by hunger.

"We all have our moments to shine." Erik said to him, before approaching her to kiss her blushing cheeks with gratitude.

Later on, Magneto extracted some new metal out of the ground, not from the core, by any chance, just safely from the surface, and they've build a little town with the main ship as its hall.

"This place's so quite it gives me the creeps." Pyro said at the bonfire party that he helped constructing later that evening. "Where are all the locals?"

"You're looking at them." Charles answered, eating his meal from his wooden plate.

"Those funky little monkeys?" the young mutant scuffed.

"Lemurs, actually." Charles corrected him.

They were peeping from the edge of the forest, their huge yellow eyes glowing in the dark like flames, but otherwise they chose to stay hidden on the branches of the trees, fascinated by the fire yet fearing it just the same.

"Lemurs?" Beast joined in on the conversation, without hiding his astonishment.

Charles only shrugged "Told you I won't lead you into an occupied planet."

"But Lemurs?" Pyro chuckled.

"How could you even pick up on them?" asked Riptide with some awe. "Do they even think? At all?"

"What do they have to think about?" Pyro agreed.

"Food, shelter, caring for the young, but sex… mostly sex."

Beast Choked on his bite, and Riptide turned to pat his back, while Pyro burst out with laughter.

 

     **XxXxX-XxXxX**

<(Point 0+3 months)>

"Checkmate" Magneto announced dryly, and Charles smiled pushing his king with his finger until it fell on the board. "Your methods are too obvious." Magneto continued "You go for my king with everything you have and damn everything to hell; I've never seen you plan more than two moves ahead."

"What can I say, I'm impatient."

"Keep this attitude and we'll have very short rounds." Magneto said, removing his helmet and ruffling his short auburn hair with relief.  

"Good, it will leave us more time to talk." Magneto eyed him with a surprised gaze turned a frown. "We hardly ever have time to talk." Charles explained. "I'd say you avoid me if I hadn't followed your schedule."

Magneto smiled now, or did his best trying. "Here I am. What do you want to talk about?" he asked, waving his hands in surrender, his voice weary.

Want and capacity were so many miles apart, Charles realized, blushing.

"I'm listening." Magneto's eyes glittered with amusement.

/I'd be more comfortable this way. /

"No, my boy, words have more power when they are pronounced loud and clear."

Charles blushed even deeper.

"Let me help you, sweetheart." Magneto took a deep breath, collecting his own courage; but he managed, he was always the braver one. "We've made a mistake. You were vulnerable, and lonely and confused, I was hurt by X's attack, and was reminded of how badly I missed him. Luckily, we caught it on time and made a stop to it, I cannot say that no harm was done, as I promised to you never to lie again, but it's on me. I'm the adult and I'm the one who'd…who had raped you to begin with. I only want us to move forward now, I want you to become strong, make a life for your own, you deserve so much better than what I have to offer."

"No."

"No?"

"I know what you have to offer. I've read it in your mind. Never say you have nothing to offer. You loved him so much, you still do, and I get it. I got tangled in the middle of it, thinking I can be some sort of a replacement, ridicules actually… a snotty brat such as myself, what was I thinking? I'm so sorry for tempting you, I had no right to try and steal you away. I was jealous… maybe, testing my affect on you… definitely."

"Dear god, Charles, if you cannot sort out your own motivation, what would the rest of us do? I was an active party as far as I can recall."

"And I acted like a total twat."

"Let it go. It's the only way." Magneto's voice turned soft, he drew his hands to lap, before they would reach out.

"I still want you, though…" Charles confessed with a weary smile.

"You do? Am I not too old for you?"

"Old? You're bloody gorgeous."

"Thanks, I guess. So, another round?"

"Only if it's a short one, my head's killing me."

"You suck at chess; of course it's a short one."

 

     **XxXxX-XxXxX**

<(Point 0+6 months)>

Charles sparred with almost every combat designated mutant in the brotherhood over the first six months they spent on their new planet, he learned all their strong and weak point by hard, for some reason known only to Magneto, he was not allowed to use his telepathy on those practiced battles so he lost almost every time, the goal of this combat training, as explained by Magneto, was to learn about those soldiers and their abilities on a first hand basis so he could capitalize on that knowledge when time comes, a logical goal for sure, still managed to bruise his body as well as his ego every single time they made him eat dirt, though.

"Come on, Blue…" he huffed and hissed through his teeth as he backed away from Mystique after another successful strike, giving her the space to recover. "You're not giving me your all today, what's up with that?"

She taunted him with her smile, lifting her wooden Katana up, yet her footing still in a defense position; she was going to force him into an attack again. "What makes you say that?"

Charles frowned, well, one crucial clue was that he was a panting mass and she did not break a sweat yet. "Oh, hell…" he raised his Kanata and charged again.

They knew each other so well, by now; the spar between them looked like a coordinated dance, graceful movement of attacks, blockades, dodging maneuvers, ducks, reaching for new positions and then all over again.

But why was she toying with him this time? Something was definitely off, it was all too easy for him, and even though he had the osmium helmet on, he could anticipate her every move without effort just by relying on his memory of their last few rounds.

She always let go of her guard after delivering a particularly good strike, let her have it, and yes… here it was, just this fraction of a second where she breathed out, turning her gaze away, just about…now… and he could take the advantage and tackle her, why won’t he?

And so he did, and there she was, lying underneath him on the ground, breathing heavily, defeated.

He won, didn't he just win? Did he win a fight against a combat mutant? First time ever! He maneuvered the wooden katana for the final blow, so there's no doubt about is, but then she changed, her shape shifting blue body rippled beneath him and took a new form, a human form, a form of a young girl with blond hair and violet eyes, and her gaze into his eyes delivered a far more painful blow to his heart than any other weapon could.

Smiling, she flipped them over, and placed her Katana on his throat.

"Sentiment…" she sneered."And now I own you, bitch."

He could not sass her back, let alone breath; he just stared at her with his eyes wide open. Dear, lovely Raven, he missed her so much, must have been… over a bloody year.

"Mystique!" someone came rushing in to the training ground, running on the gravel. "What are you doing?" It was Beast, his fur shining under the morning sun.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" She frowned and got up, giving her hand to Charles to help him up as well.

"Kicking my ass, apparently." The boy laughed, taking the helmet off and running his hand over his sweaty hair.

"I took you off practice duty!"

"And I've placed myself back in."

"By whose approval?"

"Magneto's!"

"What? Why?"

"I got bored!"

"You could've hurt the baby!" Beast mumbled, repressing his anger.

"You know I wouldn't!" she hissed back at him, walking away on them both, brushing shoulders with Beast as she passed him quite brutally.

"Give her a break." Charles tried a smile. "The baby's fine."

"How would you know?" Beast pouted.

Charles shook his head with a weary smile. "Just back off, my friend, give her some space, they are both fine."

  

     **XxXxX-XxXxX**

<(Point 0+1 year)>

"….The humans had settled nicely into their village, and set up a ruling council that we have a good relationship with. We welcomed three new members to the brotherhood who just turned eighteen, two alpha leveled combat mutants and a beta leveled telepath."

"Alex, Emma's kid." Said Charles, taking a calculated guess, after all he was quite familiar with everyone's files.

"Indeed Charles; and you've been assigned to train him." Magneto ordered.

"It would be my pleasure, sir." the eighteen year old telepath smiled.

"And to conclude this annual report, there were no sightings of omega leveled hostiles any near this planet. We had a peaceful and productive year, sir." Beast finished his review, and he couldn't help himself but to rest his eyes on his wife and her obviously heavily pregnant body.

"Thank you, Beast." said Magneto with a hint of a smile on his serious face; he ran his gaze on the assembled before him "Anyone else wishes to make a comment?"

"I do." Azazel replied.

"Go ahead."

"Based on Beast's report, I'd like to note that it is safe for us to stay here at least one more year."

Magneto clearly did not like this idea, given the characteristic flexing of his jaw, but he withheld his protest as the attendees mumbled their agreement.

"We have no reason to leave." Riptide gathered enough courage to join in with Azazel. "The food is in abundance, the weather is great, and we all could use some peace and quiet."

"To do what?" Magneto asked with a half hidden sneer.

"To…" Riptide tried to come up with an idea. "To…"

"To just chill." Pyro laid it out in the open when no one else would.

/the people are weary, they need a place to call home./ Charles whispered into Magneto's mind, of course Magneto ignored him.

"Just chill? Chill? What kind of an objective is that?" the brotherhood leader insisted, getting angrier by the minute.

"We could use this time for training, and strategizing." Beast gave it his best try.

It did not work; Magneto seemed more pissed off by the minute "We can do that on the move, same as we always do."

"But here we have much better conditions than space." Beast insisted "More resources, less risks, a much more stable environment for experiments."

"A fucking cage of rocks!"

"There's a lot more room to maneuver here than in a spacecraft, sir."

"We are sitting ducks here, Beast, can't you see? I thought you were smart enough to realize that! Staying here will lower our guard! Will slack us down! Make us an easy prey for any omega monster on the prowl! Are you willing to take this huge risk just to get to ogle sunsets and sniff flowers? Fucking idiots! All of you!"

Beast lowered his gaze down like a scolded child, Azazel cursed under his breath in Russian, Pyro and Riptide eyed each other in misery, and Mystique said nothing but placed her hand on her swelling belly.

/Keep it up and lose them/

Charles gentle warning softened Magneto's rage, and he leaned back into his chair breathing deeply. "Who else is with Azazel on this?" he asked.

All but Sabertooth had raised their hand, Charles included.

"Very well then." Magneto mumbled and ran his hard gaze between Beast and Charles "Come up with a biennial plan that will convince me we're not staying here just to whack off and we'll discuss it in our next meeting."

"We will, sir." Beast answered and turned to look at Charles. /Did he just say biennial? As in two years?/

/Yes, he did./ Charles smiled at the feral mutant. /We've got two years./

"That's settled then..." Magneto mumbled and got on his feet.

/Thank you./ Charles touched Erik's mind again, smiling warmly.

/Don't thank me just yet/ Erik answered that smile with a cold hard frown. /This attachment will only make it harder to leave when time comes/

/Must it come?/

/It always does./ "Dismissed" Magneto concluded and was the first to get out that door.

       **XxXxX-XxXxX**

<(Point 0+1.5 years)>

"And so- John, Michael and Wendy returned home to their old bedroom, and at the windowsill, Wendy kissed Peter Pan goodbye, before he flew back to Wonderland, promising to visit him every spring, to help him with the spring cleaning. The End."

Magneto closed the book and gently kissed Wanda's warm forehead, then Pietro's soft cheek.

"This is it?" Wanda peeped, scoffing her little face "This is such a bad, bad ending."

"Is that so?" Magneto smiled placing the book on the nearby desk, and gently got himself untangled from the heap of his cuddling children, to get out of bed and up his feet. "Why?"

"Why? Wendy just left Peter Pan and now he's all alone."

Magneto could not help stroking his daughter's face, chancing down a runaway tear. "But he got back home to his Tinker-bell and his lost boys" he said "so he's not alone at all. Now get under the blankets, Pietro; do you want some more water, Wanda?"

"No, I'm good."

"One more story, dad…" Pietro pleaded as his father that was about to put out the lamp.

Erik smiled and petted his son's soft silver locks "I've already read you three stories, I think it's enough for one night. Let's save some for tomorrow, huh?"

Pietro frowned at this answer. "But please, dad…"

"Please, dad." Wanda joined in the plea, maybe just to annoy him.

Erik sunk into the armchair near the bed and looked at his five year old twins, torn between annoyance and overwhelming affection. "How about you tell me a story." he suggested as a compromise.

"We don't know any stories." Wanda pouted, feeling somewhat cheated.

"So tell me a real one. Tell me about your day."

"My day?" the little girl looked confused.

"Yes, sweetie, what did you do today?"

Wanda just turned and pressed her face into her pillow, but her brother was more cooperative and he made his best effort to remember his day. "We went to a field trip with our class." Pietro said at last.

"You did?"

"Yes, the teacher took us to the forest." Wanda recalled turning her face back to her father.

"That's nice." Erik hummed and petted her hair. "Go on."

"We went to see orange butterflies, and green mushrooms, and blue snails." She continued.

"…and then the teacher took us to the pond, and we saw little yellow frogs…" Pietro added "and then Tag tried to catch one…"

"But he fell into the pond." Wanda giggled like a little witch.

"He fell into the pond, yeah, because he was so stupid."

"The teacher got him out and he was covered in mud, and he smelled."

"And then he beat up Specter because he laughed at him."

"And Specter did his disappearing thing… and the teacher couldn't find him…"

"But I did."

"Yeah, he did."

"Looks like you two had an exciting day." Erik interrupted before his children got themselves all worked up. "Now go to sleep so you can have strength for a new one." Now he did put out the lamp and a peaceful darkness descended upon the room.

"Good night." Pietro said and fell asleep so fast before Erik could reply.

"Dad… A kiss." Wanda asked, stretching her little hands to him.

"Goodnight, baby girl." Erik hugged her, kissed her cheek and tucked them both in.

"Dad…" She whispered again as he was facing the door.

Annoyed again, he took a deep breath before answering. "What do you want now, honey?"

"I like it here… let's stay."

Another deep breath and he was out of their room.

       **XxXxX-XxXxX**

<(Point 0+2 years)>

"Are you sure?"

"Sure I'm sure, unless you're bluffing, which makes me even more sure."

"Bluffing is for Poker, sport; I was not lying when I said there's move here that can break my defense."

"Well, I cannot see the bloody move, all your pieces are perfectly covering each other, and I'm too tired to think."

"Too tiered or too impatient?"

"You say tomato."

"Huh?"

"Let's switch."

"This is the second time this week, Charles."

"Switch!"

"As you wish." Magneto took the corner of the board and gave it a gentle spine, until the white pieces reached his side, and the black ones traveled into Charles possessions.

"Now show me your money is where your mouth is."

Magneto smiled, and pushed forwarded his white queen.

Charles gazed at the board for a good while, trying to figure this out.

"That's your brilliant move?" he snarled at the older man "Your queen is so dead now." He moved his bishop to take her. "See? She's so very dead."

"Checkmate."

"Really?! Oh, really…bugger!" Charles sprawled on his chair in defeat, sulking at his lost, and a wave of anger washed over Magneto at this view.

"You're lazy!"

"Am not!"

"You're lazy and impatient and you fail to see the importance of our sessions! You're wasting my time!"

"Oi! Where did that came from? Can't you see I'm honestly trying? Cut me some slack, will you?"

"I'll do better than that; I'll give you an incentive. When you win for the first time, I'll give you a reward."

"Interesting…"

"Not that kind of a reward!" damns horny teenagers.

"What kind of a reward?"

"Win and find out."  

 

 

 

       **XxXxX-XxXxX**

<(Point 0+3 years)>

"I can't believe she's already two years old." Said Mystique her voice gasps with awe.  

"I can't believe we've been in the same place for three years without blowing it up." Beast replied with a smile.

"I can't believe it has been more than three years since I've left Earth." Charles added with a sigh.

A moment passed, and then Mystique, Beast and Charles eyed each other and clicked their beer bottles together.

"Happy birthday to sweet Lizzie." Charles congratulated the proud parents. "May she never be blue!"

"You mean brat!" Mystique elbowed him. "Whoever said she had to turn out blue? She's ours all the same."

"I know, I've checked." Beast said.

"Twice." Mystique giggled.

"Twice." Beast admitted and threw his hand around his wife's shoulder, planting a soft kiss on her temple.

"So when does she gets her cool name?" Charles asked.

"When she manifests her powers, when will you choose your cool name?"

"Already got one."

"Oh crap…" Mystique said as two boys in the yard began to quarrel, accidently pushing little Lizzie into a mud pond in her birthday-party dress. She set there; turning her golden eyes to her parents and then began to cry.

"I've got this." Beast placed his beer bottle down and hurried to his daughter; picked her up, cradled her in his huge arms and kiss her tears dry.

"He's a great dad." Charles took another gulp of his bottle, and watched as Beast carried the little girl inside the house to have a change.

"Make it stop." Mystique eyed Charles with a cold glare.

"What?"

"You've heard me. Make it stop." She referred to the quarrel turned a full scale rumble involving all the boys and some of the girls in the yard.

"It would be a horrible violation of their free will." Charles protested.

"Free will my ass! They are destroying my herb-bed."

Charles shrugged, and all the kids stopped fighting, and turned their attention to the cake instead.

"Thank you."

"You're welcomed."

The shape shifter finished her beer in silence, and soon after Beast rejoined them, placing a kiss on the ginger red hair and releasing his girl with her new dress back to her friends.

"I miss Earth." Charles said suddenly. "I mean… I like it here, it's all very beautiful, but the colors… they are all off. You know what I mean?"

"I think I do." Beast smiled at him.

"I wonder what's been going on there since I've left. Hundreds of years could have passed."

"Or hundreds of seconds; depends on the relative position of that universe in respect to ours, and we must also take into account our relative speed in the multiverse as well, so…"

"Beast, love of my life, shut up!"

"Huh?"

"Shut up, darling, nobody cares." Mystique was cruel but Charles smiled his gratitude to her just as well. She leaned and kissed him on his check. "Earth might be lost for you, honey, but you should focus on what is here and now, enjoy what you have, this is the Garden of Eden compared to some hellish places we've been at, and will be again."

"Always the optimist."

"Comes with eternal life."

"Sounds like a curse to me."

"Dyeing is worst, and is always an option."

"Break is over, guys." Beast said, overseeing the newly developing commotion in the yard before them. "The natives are restless."

Charles finished his drink and got up on his feet to help them.

 

**XxXxX-XxXxX**

<(Point 0+3.5 years)>

"Are you sure?" Charles asked and Magneto halted, his fingers still placed upon his rook, and he eyed the boy with a cold glare.

"This is the third time now, Charles, this is pointless and annoying, please stop." He pushed his rook into position and Charles shrugged, drawing back his queen.

"Why don't you spar with me?" Charles asked while Erik was contemplating his next move.

"Why should I?"

"Everyone else does."

"I'm not everyone else."

"Are you afraid of hurting me?"

"No."

"You are afraid of me kicking your ass?"

"No."

"So you're afraid of getting close to me!" Charles concluded. "To feel my skin against your own, to smell my sweat, to hear my heart beat…"

"No!" Magneto placed his hand on his knight, and it was trembling.

"Are you sure?" Charles asked, lingering on every syllable.

"Shut up." Magneto murmured and moved the knight.

"Too bad." Charles's rook took Erik's queen.

"Fucking shit." Erik cures under his breath as he recognized the trap.

"Yes, Check."

"Indeed it was." Magneto moved his king out of harm's way.

"You denied my request to use Cerebro… again. Why?" Charles asked moving a pawn.

"You're not ready for Cerebro yet."

"Practice makes perfect."

"Mistakes draw in monsters. It is too much of a risk." Magneto pushed his knight to take the pawn.

"Are you sure?" Charles moved his bishop. "Check."

"Damn hell." Magneto was forced to move his king again.

"I'll never be ready if you keep treating me as a child." Charles moved another pawn forward.

"You'll be ready when I say you're ready."

"Really now?" Charles asked.

"Really now." Magneto sent his bishop to capture Charles's rook now that the pawn was not there to protect it.

He smiled at the boy, who smiled back and moved his other rook. "And that is a checkmate, my friend." his bright blue eyes shone with victory.

"Well done." Magneto answered after viewing the board and reaching for the same conclusion. "Don't let it go to your pretty head. Good night."

"Wait... What about my reward? Don’t I get a reward?"

Magneto got up on his feet, smiling "You do. It will be sent to your room."

 

**XxXxX-XxXxX**

<(Point 0+3.5 years+ 12 hours)>

 

"So this is my reward? More files?" Charles could hardly hide his disappointment as he answered the knock on his door and welcomed Beast in, rolling the wheeled desk into his room. "Remind me again why do we have everything on a hard copy?"

"Just in case Magneto releases uncontrolled EMPs by accident and wipe out our entire database… again."

"When does he ever release uncontrolled EMPs?"

"When he's monumentally pissed off, or extremely exhausted, or when he's having a mind-blowing orgasm, or when..."

"Stop it right there." Charles interrupted, appalled; he didn't even want to know how Beast had acquired that information. "What's in those files?"

Beast breathed deeply and looked at the young telepath with a melancholic gaze. "I didn’t want him to… but he thought you were ready… I tried to convince him but he said that there was no use in delaying this any further…"

"What's in those files, Beast?" Charles softly repeated his question.

"This is everything we've got on Professor X, your old Sensei; your parallel."

"Professor X, you say." Charles could feel his heart rate elevated, coking him; he made his best effort to control his breathing and stop his body from trembling.

"It's not much, but valid data on X is hard to come by." Beast apologized. "I hope you'll find some of it useful, although I'm not sure how."

"I will." Charles answered, nervously licking his lips.

"I'll leave you to it, then." Beast was almost as nervous as Charles was, throwing anxious swift glances at the desk, as if it was hunted and any moment now a ghost will burst out of it attacking him.

"Wait…" Charles pleaded. "Before you go, have you ever read those files?"

Beast nodded "Of course I did, I've wrote some of them, I've even been a witness to some of the events documented in them."

"Can you sum them up for me?" he wasn't lazy, just terrified of what he might find in there, and his voice was trembling as he pleaded for a head start, hoping he could use it to gain courage to delve in.

"Well…" Beast breathed, running his eyes up and down the desk. "X is really a puzzle. All recorded history says that he's an alpha leveled mutant, but the things he did makes us suspect he had somehow managed to reach an omega level, it is a mystery how he elevated himself, it is unheard of, but every indication shows that he truly did. He's a genius, no surprises there, but his way of thinking and plotting is mesmerizing, plans within plans within plans. He is striving for the narrowing path, as much as clear, but we have no clue as to how he's going to get there. He marked Magneto as a threat to be eliminated, but we cannot comprehend why or how Magneto even pose a threat to him, if we did we would put it to use, but he has a remarkable way of obscuring his motivations, you'll get to know that."

"Yes." Charles nodded a soft smile on his lips. "It is time to get to know myself."

"It's not you." Beast corrected him firmly. "Keep it in mind that it is not you."

"I'll try."

"And Charles…"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry I cannot stay, but Lizzie's a bit sick and she needs me."

"I understand completely."

"And Charles…take your time, small doses, best read in daylight."

"All right."

"I'm not kidding, as soon as the sun goes down, lay it off."

"Of course."

Of course he didn't.

 

**XxXxX-XxXxX**

<(Point 0+3.5 years+ 1 day+8 hours)>

 

At the dead of night, Magneto woke up to someone banging violently on his door. It was a cold night, and dark one, as heavy clouds blocked both starlight and moonlight.

"Coming!" Magneto grumbled, his kids were sleeping in the next room, and if that insolent intruder was going to wake them up, he was going to slaughter him on the spot. "It'd better be a phenomenal catastrophe, Beast, or I'll make a coat out of you… Charles?"

The boy was trembling like a leaf, holding on to the doorpost so for dear life.

"Let me in…" the boy pleaded.

"Charles, what are you doing here at this ungodly hour?"

"Please, don't turn me down, please don’t be cruel. Please?" Charles mumbled desperately, his voice shivered as much as his body, as if he has spent the last few hours crying.

And then Magneto realized what had happened. "You've read everything in one go; haven't you? Silly boy. Come on in."


End file.
